A resurgent La Niña will continue to starve the desert Southwest
of moisture through the winter, according to the annual Winter
Outlook produced by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration. While the focus of the winter outlook is
typically on temperature and snow expectations for the northern
half of the country, the continuation of drought centered on
Texas is the most alarming feature of the forecast. By some
measures, the drought there is already worst than the Dust Bowl
of the 1930s that inspired massive migrations and social change.
La Niña, defined by a colder-than-usual temperature pattern in
the Southern Pacific Ocean, like its antecedent El Niño,
produces predictable weather patterns across continents,
including colder and wetter conditions in the Pacific Northwest.
But NOAA warns that La Niña's influence could be masked or
amplified by the so-called Arctic Oscillation, a variable and
more difficult-to-predict pressure pattern over the Atlantic
with strong influence on weather patte