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Is it because you had tons of snow last winter and we had very little, so most of the precipitation was rain?
I suppose so. The northern stream was very strong and thus protected northern regions of the PNW from
many heavy SW rain events. We only got two all winter in mid Jan and Feb.
Looks like many weak Nina's had wet Eastern U.S.. see image below. Strong and Moderate Nina's look drier I think.
Quote:
It begins as life did: in the ocean
That patch of abnormally cold ocean is what creates La Niña weather, because the surface temperature of a body of water has a big impact on local precipitation. This in turn affects global wind patterns. A weak year, which is what scientists are predicting for the 2017-18 season, means the change in temperature is between 0.5 and 1 degree Celsius below average. A moderate year is between 1 and 1.5 degrees colder, and a strong year is anything greater than that.
Precipitation (or lack thereof) shifts the jet streams
A cold ocean makes for dry, sinking air. Conversely, a warm ocean makes for moist, rising air that turns into precipitation. That means that in La Niña conditions, precipitation occurs in the East Indies, while our region of the Pacific is cooler and drier.
This shift in precipitation causes the polar jet stream to dip down towards the U.S., bringing cold air with it. Northern states will see cooler weather and more rain or snow, depending on how close they are to the edge of the jet stream’s path. And since the Pacific jet stream isn’t as strong, the south tends to be drier and warmer than average.
La Niña’s are predictable, except when they aren’t
Here comes that pesky forecast uncertainty we know and love. Weather patterns on a global scale are pretty predictable, but the smaller the area you look at, the harder it is to determine the forecast.
"La Niña patterns will mostly hold true year to year, but the exact precipitation distribution can vary quite a bit. Check out this comparison of La Niña years from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: It’s ranked by how strong the effects were, and you can see that even within strong or weak types, the inches of precipitation aren’t super consistent"
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