Where’s the Snow?!
Okay, so in moving to the Southwest from Indiana, I never thought I’d be asking this question, but “Where’s the Snow?!”
Jan. 7, 2018 - Bandelier National Monument should be under a good amount of snow…
Albuquerque is on it's way to having one of the top five dry streaks in it's recorded history. We haven't had precipitation since October - before Balloon Fiesta!
I'm not going to pretend to be a meteorologist, but my grandpa's knee says something is amiss - and he's not the only one. According to actual meteorologists (like NOAA and The Weather Channel) The dry spell that is underway over the Southwest - from California to Colorado - can be mostly attributed to the climate phenomenon La Nina.
La Nina is a periodic climate event (once every 2-7 years) that involves the cooling of the central Pacific Ocean and a subsequent "push" of the Jetstream north. This creates colder and wetter conditions in the Northwest, Midwest, North East, Canada (aren't they cold all the time?) and warmer drier conditions here in NM (among other places). So a cool Pacific means I was wearing shorts on January 8th!
Because of that warmer, drier weather pattern we can expect to see less snow. How much less snow? Well, the fine folks at Rutgers and and NOAA say about 4 inches less snow for La Nina winters.
That doesn't look so hot. Well, I guess it does, but you get what I'm saying.
The news isn't all bad, though. There's a pretty good chance of precipitation coming as soon as this Wednesday! While I'm not holding my breath for a blizzard, I'll welcome whatever we can get.
La Nina cycles typically last 9-12 months, so we should be back to normal this summer - just in time for monsoon season (one of my favorite times of the year!).
For more information on La Nina check out these two articles by The Weather Channel: