Above: A recent smoky sunset. Those are tall weeds in the foreground, not trees.
La Niña, which contributed to extreme weather around the globe during the first half of 2011, has re-emerged in the tropical Pacific Ocean and is forecast to gradually strengthen and continue into winter. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center recently upgraded last month’s La Niña Watch to a La Niña Advisory.
What does this mean for Florida?
Unfortunately, more of the same. Hot, smoky and dry conditions.
Above: An alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) looking for water in the Paynes Prairie Preserve near Gainsville, Florida. William Bartram referred to this area as the Great Alachua Savannah when he wrote about his visit to the prairie in 1774. I found no water in the prairie during my last visit. The ground is soft in places, indicating a thick layer of muck.
Above: Boat docks on dry land are becoming common. This one on Lake Lachloosa. Normally a 6,000 acre lake, Lachloosa -- like so many others in Florida -- is rapidly drying.
NOAA will issue its official winter outlook in mid-October, but La Niña winters often see drier than normal conditions across the southern tier of the United States. Already NOAA is predicting drier than normal conditions to persist across the Florida peninsula for the foreseeable future.
Above: Orange Lake, normally 13,000 acres is rapidly shrinking.
Orange and Lochloosa, sometimes called "Twin Lakes," is the area immortalized by Marjorie Kinnian Rawlings in her books The Yearling and Cross Creek.
Above: Our own Lake Theresa, much smaller than Twin lakes -- at 700 acres -- has virtually disappeared. The weeds now stand over 6' (2 m.) tall where water once flowed. In this late August shot there is a storm cloud far to the north of the lake. What little rain we've received this summer has been followed by extended periods of hot and dry weather. The current dry has been ongoing for 2 weeks with daily temperatures in the mid-90°s F. (35° C.) and no precipitation.
Above: Dry lake beds in the Deep South will be common again this winter.
The strong 2010-11 La Niña contributed to record winter snowfall, spring flooding and drought across the United States, as well as other extreme weather events throughout the world, such as heavy rain in Australia and an extremely dry equatorial eastern Africa.
Below: The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook through the end of the year from NOAA. Note that most of the Florida peninsula has yet to see the worst of what is forecast to come.
What can you do?
Visit the Climate Reality Project (climaterealityproject.org).
Above: An alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) looking for water in the Paynes Prairie Preserve near Gainsville, Florida. William Bartram referred to this area as the Great Alachua Savannah when he wrote about his visit to the prairie in 1774. I found no water in the prairie during my last visit. The ground is soft in places, indicating a thick layer of muck.
Above: Boat docks on dry land are becoming common. This one on Lake Lachloosa. Normally a 6,000 acre lake, Lachloosa -- like so many others in Florida -- is rapidly drying.
NOAA will issue its official winter outlook in mid-October, but La Niña winters often see drier than normal conditions across the southern tier of the United States. Already NOAA is predicting drier than normal conditions to persist across the Florida peninsula for the foreseeable future.
Above: Orange Lake, normally 13,000 acres is rapidly shrinking.
Orange and Lochloosa, sometimes called "Twin Lakes," is the area immortalized by Marjorie Kinnian Rawlings in her books The Yearling and Cross Creek.
Above: Our own Lake Theresa, much smaller than Twin lakes -- at 700 acres -- has virtually disappeared. The weeds now stand over 6' (2 m.) tall where water once flowed. In this late August shot there is a storm cloud far to the north of the lake. What little rain we've received this summer has been followed by extended periods of hot and dry weather. The current dry has been ongoing for 2 weeks with daily temperatures in the mid-90°s F. (35° C.) and no precipitation.
Above: Dry lake beds in the Deep South will be common again this winter.
The strong 2010-11 La Niña contributed to record winter snowfall, spring flooding and drought across the United States, as well as other extreme weather events throughout the world, such as heavy rain in Australia and an extremely dry equatorial eastern Africa.
Below: The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook through the end of the year from NOAA. Note that most of the Florida peninsula has yet to see the worst of what is forecast to come.
What can you do?
Visit the Climate Reality Project (climaterealityproject.org).
La Niña explained
La Niña is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon located over the tropical Pacific Ocean and results from interactions between the ocean surface and the atmosphere. During La Niña, cooler-than-average Pacific Ocean temperatures influence global weather patterns. La Niña typically occurs every three-to-five years, and back-to-back episodes occur about 50 percent of the time. Current conditions reflect a re-development of the June 2010-May 2011 La Niña episode.
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