{"id":12224,"date":"2024-07-18T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=12224"},"modified":"2024-07-05T05:55:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T05:55:44","slug":"la-nina-is-coming-raising-the-chances-of-a-dangerous-atlantic-hurricane-season-an-atmospheric-scientist-explains-this-climate-phenomenon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/la-nina-is-coming-raising-the-chances-of-a-dangerous-atlantic-hurricane-season-an-atmospheric-scientist-explains-this-climate-phenomenon\/","title":{"rendered":"La Ni\u00f1a is coming, raising the chances of a dangerous Atlantic hurricane season \u2013 an atmospheric scientist explains this climate phenomenon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n La Ni\u00f1a typically means cooler, wetter conditions on average globally, but not everywhere, and not every time.\n Luis Robayo\/AFP via Getty Images<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n Pedro DiNezio<\/a>, University of Colorado Boulder<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

One of the big contributors<\/a> to the record-breaking global temperatures over the past year \u2013 El Ni\u00f1o \u2013 is now gone<\/a>, and its opposite, La Ni\u00f1a, is on the way.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Whether that\u2019s a relief or not depends in part on where you live. Above-normal temperatures are still forecast across the U.S. in summer 2024<\/a>. And if you live along the U.S. Atlantic or Gulf coasts, La Ni\u00f1a can contribute to the worst possible combination of climate conditions for fueling hurricanes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Pedro DiNezio, an atmosphere and ocean scientist at the University of Colorado who studies El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a, explains why and what\u2019s ahead.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

What is La Ni\u00f1a?<\/h2>\n\n

La Ni\u00f1a and El Ni\u00f1o are the two extremes of a recurring climate pattern<\/a> that can affect weather around the world.<\/p>\n\n

Forecasters know La Ni\u00f1a has arrived when temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean along the equator west of South America cool by at least half a degree Celsius<\/a> (0.9 Fahrenheit) below normal. During El Ni\u00f1o, the same region warms instead.<\/p>\n\n

Those temperature fluctuations might seem small, but they can affect the atmosphere in ways that ripple across the planet.<\/p>\n\n

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