{"id":16224,"date":"2011-02-08T05:05:37","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T13:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=16224"},"modified":"2011-02-08T05:05:37","modified_gmt":"2011-02-08T13:05:37","slug":"la-nina-to-blame-for-extreme-weather-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/la-nina-to-blame-for-extreme-weather-events\/","title":{"rendered":"La Nina to Blame for Extreme Weather Events"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It won\u2019t come as a big surprise, but La Ni\u00f1a \u2013 or \u201cthe girl\u201d in Spanish \u2013 is to blame for recent extreme weather events that have taken place in Africa and Australia.<\/p>\n

Scientists at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), part of Columbia University\u2019s Earth Institute, expect \u201cmoderate-to-strong\u201d La Ni\u00f1a conditions to continue causing additional shifts in rainfall patterns across many parts of the world.<\/p>\n

“Based on current observations and on predictions from models, we see at least a 90 percent chance that La Ni\u00f1a conditions will continue through March,” said IRI’s chief forecaster, Tony Barnston.<\/p>\n

None of this is new information. The UN\u2019s weather agency \u2013 the World Meteorological Organization \u2013 reported late in January<\/a> the same information suggesting that this current La Ni\u00f1a could even last into the second quarter of 2011.<\/p>\n

However climate scientists from the University of Columbia have found La Ni\u00f1a\u2019s fingerprints in extreme weather events the world over; the devastating floods in Pakistan in 2010, flooding in West Africa and South Africa, not to mention the recent floods in Queensland, Australia, which saw an area equal to the combined size of France and Germany underwater.<\/p>\n

This latest La Ni\u00f1a is also to blame for Cyclone Yasi, one of the strongest cyclone\u2019s to hit Australia, the second most damaging cyclone on record after Cyclone Tracy struck in 1974.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t just rainfall that La Ni\u00f1a is bringing to the world though. East Africa is currently enduring drought conditions which have sparked food-security concerns in areas that lack proper irrigation, including parts of Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania.<\/p>\n

Predictions also show that parts South America, Asia and the southern U.S. may also see lower rainfall for the first quarter of 2011.<\/p>\n

“Last year’s transition from El Ni\u00f1o to La Ni\u00f1a was about the most sudden we’ve ever had,” Barnston said. “When we had rapid flips like this in the past, we sometimes ended up having a two-year La Ni\u00f1a, such as right after the El Ni\u00f1o episodes of 1972 to 1973 and 1997 to 1998.”<\/p>\n

La Ni\u00f1a conditions normally persist for 9 to 12 months, peaking around the end of the year, but 2010 was a different yea for climate scientists, with the first four months of the year seeing El Ni\u00f1o conditions prevailing in the tropical Pacific.<\/p>\n

Baronston notes though that it is unknown whether the current La Ni\u00f1a will flip as suddenly, or leave us with a second year of La Ni\u00f1a conditions. “Even if we do have a second year of La Ni\u00f1a developing in northern summer 2011, we expect at least a brief return to neutral conditions from May to July of 2011.”<\/p>\n

Source: Columbia University<\/a>
\nImage Source: NASA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It won\u2019t come as a big surprise, but La Ni\u00f1a \u2013 or \u201cthe girl\u201d in Spanish \u2013 is to blame for recent extreme weather events that have taken place in Africa and Australia. Scientists at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), part of Columbia University\u2019s Earth Institute, expect \u201cmoderate-to-strong\u201d La Ni\u00f1a conditions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,25,38],"tags":[1369,3385,9348,11559,13635,20120,28958,29773,30920,38773],"spectra_custom_meta":{"dsq_thread_id":["306914144"],"_oembed_aa20535cb8511d381766a04c2f7b642f":["