NOAA says La Nina will linger through August, bringing long, hot summer

April 20, 2000
Web posted at: 2:03 a.m. EDT (0603 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Most of the United States will see hotter than normal temperatures this summer because of the "La Nina" weather system, which will remain in force through August, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A statement on Wednesday from NOAA said La Nina could also bring drought to much of the U.S. Midwest and Great Plains regions. A previous NOAA forecast had also predicted drought for much of the Southeastern United States.

"La Nina" is the name given to a weather system which periodically brings colder-than-average water temperatures to the tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean.

This pattern subsequently affects air and water currents, which alters weather patterns over much of the world. In much of the United States, those conditions include warmer, drier weather. La Nina has been in effect for more than two years, replacing the "El Nino" phenomenon -- an opposite weather pattern that brought stormy winter weather to the California coast and other areas in 1997-98.

NOAA forecasters say La Nina may finally end in August, when readings from a network of mid-ocean weather stations suggest Pacific Ocean temperatures could return to normal.

"All of the computer weather models agree that most of the U.S. will be warmer than usual, but at least we can see the end coming for La Nina," said Ants Leetmaa, director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.

NOAA's La Nina prediction also includes heavy monsoon-like rains for Arizona, New Mexico, southern Colorado and Utah, throughout July and August.

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