La Nina is over, but is there reason to celebrate?
May 3, 2012, 1:43 PM | Updated: 9:01 pm
The La Nina weather phenomenon is over, but if you’ve
stared out the window at all in the past 24 hours, you may
be wondering how and if that applies to you.
The National Weather Service pronounced the two-
year La Nina finished on Thursday, but we in the great
Pacific Northwest need to know what exactly that means.
After all, hasn’t it seemed like the worshippers of
Seattle summers have been dealt a tough couple of years?
“In terms of La Nina or El Nino cycle, it means we’re in a
neutral pattern and that means by itself it’s not
presenting really any tendency for above average
temperatures or precipitation or below average
temperatures or precipitation,” explained KING-5
Meteorologist Jeff Renner.
In other words, we’ll have a normal summer to look forward
to, but what is normal?
Ted Buehner, with the National Weather Service in Seattle,
was kind enough to list off our typical temps and rainfall
statistics:
“We have over 80 days of 70 degrees or better, we have 23
days of 80 or better, we have three days of 90 or better.”
As for rain, Buehner said we usually get less than an inch
of rain in July and August, and June and September are
around an inch and a half.
Well guess what Ted, we never even officially hit 90
degrees last summer, according to the NWS
charts! In 2010, we reached 90 six times.
We don’t blame Buehner or Renner, and it might just
be people in the Northwest are hungry for sun because we
were spoiled in 2009. Remember that summer? Buehner
reminded us.
“On July 29, we had that all time record high of 103. (We
had an) average high of 81 that month. It wasn’t a record
breaker, but it was one of our warmest summers since
1967.”
Not only that, but it was 87 degrees on Independence Day.
Before you get your flip flops out the closet, let’s not
forget that there’s still a base of 89″ of snow at the
Summit at Snoqualmie, 108″ at Stevens Pass, and 92″ at
Crystal. It is only the first week in May.
Instead, congratulate yourself on surviving La Nina 2011-
2012 where we had a very rare, as Buehner said, long
period of freezing rain in January, a snow storm, and
major power outages. And then hold out hope for a dry,
sunny Fourth of July because we deserve it.
