El Niño and snow in the Idaho Panhandle
via Climate.gov
Many people observed the lack of snow at our beloved ski resorts around the Idaho Panhandle this past fall to early winter and asked, “Where is the snow?” Some might suggest it’s the result of El Niño, but what does that mean? This article describes what El Niño is, weather conditions it often produces, and the effects El Niño may have on our snowpack.
El Niño is part of a phenomenon called ENSO — El Niño Southern Oscillation. To describe ENSO, we’ll have to look south towards the equator and west coast of South America. Along the equator, winds blow from the east. This easterly flow between South America and Australia pushes ocean water to the west, towards southeast Asia and northern Australia. When these winds move water away from the west coast of South America, deep, cold ocean water rises to replace the lost mass of water being pushed to the west in a process called upwelling. When those winds are weak, little amounts of ocean water are being pushed to the west, decreasing the amount of cold water upwelling, and increasing sea surface temperatures; this is an El Niño event. When these winds are strong and move larger amounts of water, it increases the amount of upwelling, thus bringing more deep, cold water to the ocean surface and cooling it down. This scenario is called La Niña. When sea surface temperatures are neither above nor below normal, ENSO conditions are considered neutral.
El Niños and La Niñas alter the meteorological conditions over the Pacific Ocean, and subsequently the weather patterns that affect our region. Under El Niño conditions, wetter storm tracks typically progress towards the southern part of the U.S., and generally results in dry and warm conditions in the Northwest. In La Niña, cooler and wetter systems come from the Gulf of Alaska down across the Northwest states but typically leaves the southwestern U.S. dry.
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