(SOUTHERN COLORADO) — With March coming soon, the change from winter to spring is fresh on our minds. However, as temperatures are getting warmer, does that mean winter is almost done? Not so fast, there are signs in the ocean that affect our atmosphere that could be pointing to a longer snowy season.
“Everything is connected around the world, so as you know the temperatures change across the ocean [and] it will impact the atmosphere, so you get that ocean-atmospheric connection there,” said Kyle Mozely, a Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pueblo.
It’s that connection that tells meteorologists and climatologists a lot about what could potentially happen with our weather patterns. One way we monitor those patterns is through what you may hear us call El Niño and La Niña. In El Niño years, our climate impacts show up mostly during the wintertime over North America.
“We get what’s called the East Asian jet that moves from the middle of the Pacific to the East Coast and that’s a big moisture transport. Atmospheric rivers are what they are commonly known as, so when you get those atmospheric rivers with deep tropical moisture it will snow heavy and rain heavy on the West Coast and that moisture will move into the Continental Divide and will increase moisture in that area,” said Mozely.
We were in an El Niño pattern over the last year but, climatologists say conditions are favorable for the development of La Niña over the next six months.
So what does that mean for us right here in Southern Colorado?
“This Spring, we could be leaning toward higher precipitation events but not necessarily a guarantee that will happen. But right now, we are looking for greater amounts of precipitation for the Spring months,” said Mozley.
The key thing to hit on is every El Niño and La Niña are different. Some can be strong and some can be weak and they can all impact Colorado differently. Right now, climatologists say that this event could likely be on the stronger side compared to other years, which means this could be a wetter year and potentially snowy year for the mountains. However, time will only tell.
