MINNEAPOLIS— After a long wait, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says La Nina is officially here. That’s when sea surface temperatures along the equator in the Pacific Ocean drop below average.
It’s been a disappointing winter for snow lovers so far, but scientists say that could change with La Niña approaching.
“The last long La Niña we had was a moderate La Niña and lasted three winter seasons. And the last one was kind of like the grand finale, the winter of ’22-’23, where we had 3 feet of snow. So you can get heavy winters with the La Niña if they last long enough,” said climatologist Pete Boulay of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
So far this year it has been anything but snow in Minnesota, with no major storms and only about 10 inches of total accumulation in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. This La Niña is expected to be weak and last only until spring, but Boulay said these are difficult to predict.
“The tricky thing is you can’t really predict them. They’re not in a perfect cycle. It’s not like you have an El Niño for a year,” Bouley said. “Then you have a La Niña. You could have three years of La Niña. So there’s a lot of variability. So that’s part of the reason why it’s difficult.”
The outlook for the remainder of January through March appears to show the best chance for below-average temperatures in western Minnesota. And the best chance for above-average precipitation is on the other side of the state, in Wisconsin.
But Boulay said we shouldn’t lose hope as the winter impacts of La Niña usually become apparent in the second half of the season.
“For the snow lovers, what we need to get this storm track to shift north a little bit,” Boulay said. “Let one of those southwest storms come back here. As long as we have this cold air. Then we’ll just wait and see what happens.’
For more information about La Niña, click here.
Adam Del Rosso
