Another La Nina is likely coming to the Northwest this winter

Western Washington was hit with the wettest winter on record last year amid a La Nina season.

Get ready for yet another La Nina, according to an alert from the National Weather Service.

Check the weather forecast

“It switched over from neutral conditions,” said Mike McFarland, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle. “… which means there is a better chance of La Nina conditions.”

It’s about a 55-60 percent chance to be more specific. It’s not yet known if it will be a weak, moderate, or strong one.

This means that the Northwest could be in for two such seasons in a row. It doesn’t happen often. It occurred in January 2013 and January 2014, McFarland said. There were back-to-back weak La Ninas in 1984 and 1985. There was a weak then a strong one in 1975 and 1976. And a weak La Nina was sandwiched between two moderate ones from 1999 – 2001.

What La Nina means

A La Nina weather cycle means that cooler waters in the Pacific Ocean translate into cooler weather patterns in the Northwest. The opposite, El Nino, means warmer conditions in the ocean and on land. That cooler weather could be right around the corner, according to the National Weather Service.

Despite our recent experience — a very wet experience — McFarland is not expecting any specific weather, such as the heavy rain that struck last year. Unlike with a strong El Nino (which indicates much warmer winters), La Ninas can be a bit unpredictable. It could be rainy again. It could be something else.

But there is one safe bet, according to McFarland.

“Skiers especially don’t like the opposite, El Nino conditions,” McFarland said. “So when we hear La Nina we tend not to worry about having a lousy winter as far as ski conditions. When we have neutral years and La Nina years we tend to have our good winters. It should be cooler and wetter than average over the western part of North America.”

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