Title: "DRI Scientist Explains La Nina Weather Pattern "
Source: KOLO
Aired: 10/5/10 5:00 pm | 6:30 pm
Keywords: la nina, dri, desert research institute, western regional climate center, weather, reno, nevada
Affiliation: DAS | WRCC
Contact(s):  Kelly Redmond

Description: There is that old saying about Reno weather. If you don't like it, wait five minutes. That's certainly true of our autumns. We've come to expect just about anything. Last year at this time, the outhouse races up at Virginia City were being visited by some early snow. The year before the local weather was breezy under clear skies. But prolonged heavy rain does something feel different.

A guy who knows more about our climate than just about anyone isn't arguing. "It is quite unusual actually," says Dr. Kelly Redmond of the Desert Research Institute and the Western Climate Center.

And, he adds, it's quite a surprise to start out our water year.

For a cause we might look thousands of miles away to the equatorial Pacific where the water temperatures have just switched from warmer to cooler, El Nino to La Nina. La Nina is known to make it more likely the months ahead will be wetter in the Pacific Northwest, drier in the southwest.

Since it feels more like Seattle than Reno these days, La Nina is a plausible suspect, but Redmond isn't ready to say so. When it comes to the effects of either La Nina or El Nino, the Reno area is in a no-man's land. It's a geographical accident. Further north or further south, say Tonopah and the effects of La Nina are more predictable

"For the Reno area it can pretty much go either way," says Redmond.

He says the effect of either is just one of the factors at work in a very complicated global climate full of chaos laid over some discernable cycles.

"In a lot of ways I look at it as a giant Rube Goldberg device. It's got a lot of moving parts and involves just about everything on Earth. If we are to feel the influences of La Nina this year, however, there is one effect it seems to have that could raise hopes for the winter ahead.

"The difference between the mountains and the valleys is greater in La Nina winters than it is in sort of average winters," says Redmond.

That means heavier snowfall high up relative to what the valleys get "I think a lot of people would like it that way that Reno didn't get a lot but the mountains did because that's where our water is coming from."

For the record, Redmond also agrees it has also been an unusual year.
"The numbers tend to reflect that and I'm looking forward to a few more surprises."