La Niña is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon located over the tropical Pacific Ocean and results from interactions between the ocean surface and the atmosphere. During La Niña, <u>eastern central</u> Pacific Ocean temperatures influence global weather patterns.
a. La Nina means continued drought for Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
b. Calls for an Atlantic hurricane season.
c. In 2011 La Nina contributed to record winter snowfall, spring flooding, and drought across the United States, as well as other extreme weather events throughout the world, such as heavy rain in Australia and an extremely dry equatorial Eastern Africa.
Explanation:
El nino (warm phase) and La nino (cold phase) are the strange weather patterns arising from undue variations in temperatures of the ocean along the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
La nina occurs along the Eastern Pacific Ocean and usually after an El nino event. Pressure variations occurring in the equatorial easterly trade winds fluctuates the eastern and western Pacific Ocean’s pressure. This pressure variations leads to upwelling of ocean water that pushes the colder water towards west by the easterly trade winds.
La nina climatic effects include severe increase or decrease in temperature, drought, fluctuations in precipitation levels affecting agriculture and food production.
La nina brings in undue changes like flooding during spring, extreme drought or heavy winter snowfall at different places unusually.
The 2011 La nina event was highly remarkable since it caused a series of changes in the climatic weather pattern causing severe drought in places like Texas, Oklahama, and New Mexico, heavy rain in Australia, dry Eastern Africa. This also triggers hurricanes in Atlantic Ocean.
All these events are due to drifting of cold waters towards west and prevalence of dryness in the eastern parts of the Pacific Ocean
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