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No drought relief in sight for the Southern Plains

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released its Winter Outlook for December, January and February and for the second year in a row, La Nina will be in play. The cooling of the Pacific redeveloped in August and is strengthening, that means below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures from southern California to Florida. As a result, NOAA says Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and areas in surrounding states will not get enough rain to alleviate the drought.

As for the rest of the country, the forecast calls for colder and wetter than normal in the Pacific Northwest, the Northern Plains and into the Great Lakes; wet but variable temperatures in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys with warmer and wetter than normal in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Spring flooding is again a possibility in the Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee River valleys.

However, La Nina could be overridden by a phenomenon called “Arctic Oscillation” where shifts between high and low pressure systems cause the polar jet stream to fluctuate. If that happens it would push bitter cold and heavy snows out of Canada into the Midwest and Northeast. While the phenomenon could develop, Arctic Oscillation can actually only be predicted a couple of weeks in advance.

More details from NOAA here:

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