Is the early cold winter weather a sign that El Nino is over?

[Weatherfan2]

Mean temperature in Buxton, Derbyshire between mid-day thursday 16th December and 24th December is -4.6°C / 23.7°F versus an average of about 3.5°C / 38.3°C.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by nei

Yes, El Nino left a while back. We've had a La Nina since mid fall.

Looks like El Nino left around July according to this figure

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/ana...ry/figure2.gif

Yes, and some meteorologists are saying that this La Niña is exceptionally strong. La Niña is the cooling of Pacific waters, which has a tendency to push the storm track to the north & bring stormy weather to the northern & eastern tier of the U.S. This could explain the bitter cold temperatures and blizzard conditions recently across much of the eastern seaboard.

Across California, the SW, and the southern U.S., La Niña usually means a warm, dry winter. So far here in Arizona, it has been slightly drier than normal (except for the NW part of the state), and much warmer than normal ... but that is about to change according to the latest forecast. What can't be explained is how coastal California just experienced one of the wettest Decembers in history during a La Niña season. That would often be associated with an El Niño pattern.

[Tony22]

This winter ended with the Nina being really strong.