Heat wave winter

Storms cause drastic seasonal changes

El Nio, an irregularly
occurring complex series of
climatic changes, is affecting
the equatorial Pacific region this season. Characterized
by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor
water off northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late
December, the El Nio weather pattern is impacting
many regions across the globe.
The current El Nio is the strongest ever recorded,
killing the previous record from 1997-1998. Already
wreaking havoc on weather around the world, new figures and dates show the effects will probably worsen.
Climate change could be to blame and is known to
be making the extreme impacts of El Nio on weather
more likely.
I like snow, senior Kayla Croud said. This is a
travesty.
The 1997-1998 El Nio weather pattern affects in
turn killed 20,000 people and caused almost $97 billion of damage as floods, droughts, fires, cyclones and
mudslides ravaged the world. The current El Nio has
surpassed the 1997-1998 storm on a key measure by
the latest figures released by the U.S. National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Agency.
An El Nio weather pattern occurs when warm
water that has piled up around Australia and Indonesia flows out east across the Pacific Ocean towards the
Americas, taking the rain with it.
This may sound harsh, but the damage and deaths
are a way of teaching us what can happen if you do
not pay attention to the warning signs of bad weather,
physics teacher Michael Brown said.
According to the latest measurements, it reached

By Brianna Welch

2.8degrees Celsius November 4 of 2015, and went on

to hit 3.1 degrees Celsius on November 18th the highest temperatures ever seen in this region. Michigans
weather these past two years have been very snowy
and cold. In some spots it reached up to 200 inches of
snow. For both winters, the jet stream had a huge dip
east of the Mississippi, allowing arctic air to easily flow
in from the north.
The Earths weather systems goes through cycles.
There will always be a strongest (or weakest). Learn
from what happened last time and adapt, Brown said.
This years weather is going to be very different. We
will see a lot less snow and fewer long periods of extreme cold weather. Any cold weather we have will be
short lived.
People in Michigan and other northern states may
be happy since the weather will not be as harsh. Less
snow will fall, so there will be less ice on our roads.
Thank to the warm weather caused by El Nio,
northerners can expect a warmer winter for the 20152016 season.

Regional weather patterns

The entire North American region is experiencing warmer, drier weather, compared to
the usual winter averages

50% drier than

normal

80% drier than

normal

40% drier
than normal
40% drier than
normal

33%
warmer
than
normal

WARMER THAN NORMAL

DRIER THAN NORMAL

MICHIGAN

40%
warmer
than normal

80%
warmer
than normal

MINNESOTA

WASHINGTON