THE GIRL RETURNS

from DDC DeKalb County AgMag Fall 2021

FIRST YEAR OF COVER CROPS

Snow blankets a farm off of Keslinger Road in DeKalb after a February 2021 storm. Last winter had warmer than normal conditions in December and January, followed by heavy snow and plummeting temperatures in February. This winter could shape up to be the same due to La Niña returning again. (Mark Busch)

La Niña could mean a delayed start to winter snow and cold temperatures

By JEANNINE OTTO AgriNews Publications

Dr. Trent Ford Illinois State Climatologist

Just in case one La Niña wasn’t enough, the girl is making a return appearance to North American weather.

“This is a double dip La Niña,” said Dr. Trent Ford, Illinois state climatologist.

The United States was in a La Niña pattern last year. La Niña, “The Girl” in Spanish, is the counterpart to the “El Niño” weather pattern. Both climate patterns involve the warming and cooling of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. La Niña is the colder of the two events.

“It can mean we have a little bit of a drier fall and it can also mean a delayed start to winter,” Ford said.

Ford said the winter of 2020, which featured warmer than normal conditions in December and January, then a dramatic fall in temperatures along with heavy snow events into February, is typical of a La Niña fall and winter and could be on repeat for northern Illinois, including DeKalb County.

For the rest of the fall and early winter, Ford said outlooks don’t show any surprise tumble in temperatures.

“What we are seeing with the near-term forecasts and outlooks, going to the mid to latter part of November, the rest of fall basically, there really is no indication that we are going to see any turn in temperatures,” Ford said.

That doesn’t mean that temperatures won’t cool down, but it does indicate that the area won’t see a dramatic drop in temperatures.

“Obviously, with seasonality and the lower sun angle, temperatures are going to get consistently cooler as we get into November and December. But there’s nothing on the horizon that is showing any indication of this big, persistent cold air outbreak,” Ford said.

For those hoping for a jump into a cold, snowy winter, at least in the northern Illinois area, those hopes might be put on hold, at least until after the new year.

“The longer-term outlooks are showing a similar thing — at least for December and January together, warmer than normal, a mild start to winter. When we get into February and parts of March, we’ll see how that turns out because La Niña winters tend to get going at that time. Right now, it looks like a warmer end to fall and maybe a mild start to winter,” Ford said.

Jeannine Otto can be reached at 815-410-2258, or jotto@shawmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Otto.

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