The Changing Weather Pattern Caused by El Nino and Global Warming

The weather pattern of El Nino has really shaken things up in the United States. A couple of days ago, several feet of snow fell in Denver, Colorado. Today, on January 5, it was 62 degrees in New York City, one of the highest temperatures ever in New York in the month of January. Kids were playing football and basketball in the park and the weather was so nice. So how do meteorologists explain the drastic climates and temperatures in the United States? It is currently snowing very heavily in the Midwest region and on the east and west coast many days are filled with sunshine. The answer is the El Nino weather pattern, which occurs around every seven years.

This past year in 2006 the El Nino weather pattern caused a huge break from the hurricane season, which typically destroys many homes in the Florida region. This past year there were relatively few hurricanes and for the hurricanes that did exist, they were not violent in nature. The consequences of this as meteorologists have stated is that northern states in the U.S. will get warmer weather and the Southern states will get a lot more precipitation in the form of rain. In 2005 there were twenty-eight hurricanes while in 2006 there were only nine.

The El Nino weather pattern comes from the Pacific Ocean near the South American coast. Climate and weather experts are predicting that the weather pattern shift will affect the United States from January until March. Afterwards, weather patterns and temperatures should resume back to normal once again. The northern states have witnessed the highest temperatures for the winter months of January and December in years. In the past, temperatures for January and December were usually twenty degrees or lower outside. Now temperatures are getting much warmer and the average temperature has been around fifty degrees. In fact one day the temperature reached an amazing seventy degrees outside with the sun shining brightly.

Researchers at Colorado State are predicting that an expectant shift in the El Nino weather pattern will cause 14 tropical storms next year, resulting in normal temperatures once again for the northern states in the U.S.

In terms of snowfall, the Midwest region of the United States which includes Colorado, will continue to receive large amounts of snowfall. The northern states, particularly in the northeast will continue to have a lack of snow. Usually the weather pattern brings snowfall from Canada down to the United States in a north-south wind pattern in the region but the snowfall could stay in Canada if current conditions do not change.

Finally, citrus fruit experts in California have raised huge concerns about the economy because much of the fruit has been unable to grow due to lack of sunshine and excess amounts of rain in California. The Governor is now passing emergency legislation for job employment for the thousands of farmers who could be without work since there is a lack of fruit to pick such as oranges and avocado.