The rains expected from a strong El Niño warming pattern have not materialized in the desert Southwest. National climate forecasters predict Arizona’s drought conditions will return this spring.
The hoped-for rains from El Niño were predicted to wipe out the region’s drought. But they didn’t develop.
El Niño is a climate phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean, often creating conditions leading to heavy winter rainfall. The rains came, but not to Arizona and much of the country’s southern tier.
Jon Gottschalck is the chief climate predictor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and gave this grim forecast last week.
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“Drought is expected to persist in central and Southern California, southwest Nevada and Western Arizona, northwest Montana and Hawaii through the month of June,” Gottschalck said.
Gottschalck said current El Niño conditions mean ongoing drought
“For most of Arizona and western New Mexico where wintertime precipitation was substantially below normal,” he said.
This El Niño contributed to a milder than average winter across nearly all of the country, Gottschalck said, and some regions saw rain totals well above normal.