A weak La Nina – a La Nina is event is marked by cooler temperatures around the Equator – usually means a mild, dry winter for much of the Southeast, according to the National Weather Service’s John Lewis.
But a weak La Nina and a negative Arctic Oscillation – another weather phenomenon that repeats itself through high pressure changes at the North Pole and over North America – can also presage colder temperatures and severe weather come springtime.
Lewis, a veteran weather forecast who is based at the NOAA NWS office in Little Rock, talked about 2016 and the possibility of a colder, wetter winter at the Agricultural Council of Arkansas annual meeting in Little Rock. Lewis has become a fixture at the meeting.
For more information on the NWS, visit http://www.weather.gov/lzk/.