Forecasters have been tracking the chances that a La Niña would develop since early on in the summer — as the events often occur in consecutive years in what climate scientists call a “double dip” — with early predictions showing that the pattern would emerge sometime in October.
La Niña is an ocean-atmosphere weather pattern that describes cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures across the east-central Equatorial Pacific Ocean. Although much of the water in the Pacific will be just a few degrees cooler than average, the minor fluctuation can disrupt the entire world’s weather pattern. And now that the right ocean conditions have materialized, the impacts will likely be felt until early spring 2022.
“Our scientists have been tracking the potential development of a La Nina since this summer, and it was a factor in the…
