La Niña is a cooling of the surface waters in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean but why do we need to be concerned about something in the Pacific Ocean? What happens in the Pacific with the water temperatures can and does often impact the weather around the Globe and especially here in the United States. La Niña can cause droughts, intensifying hurricanes, severe weather outbreaks, wildfires and can affect overall temperatures. We have had La Niña since the Fall of 2020. The 2020 Hurricane season was the most active on record with 30 named storms, 13 hurricanes and 6 major hurricanes. When La Niña is present the upper-level winds are very weak (Trade winds) so there isn't much wind shear at all to tear hurricanes apart and weaken them. That is why we had so many storms and hurricanes during the 2020 season and the 2021 season. Given that La Niña is set to continue it does indeed look like we could have another active Hurricane season this year and it could start early again like it has in previous years. This March has a record high number of tornadoes (218) across the country mainly across the south. Several tornadoes hit in central and south Georgia and parts of Alabama. Thankfully north and west Georgia has not had any tornadoes. There was 41 tornado watches in the month of March. Back to the possibilities of Hurricane season now. Colorado State has released their forecast for the 2022 Hurricane season they are predicting an above average season with up to 19 storms, 9 hurricanes and 4 of those could be major hurricanes cat. 3 or higher. One thing we have to keep an eye on that can impact Hurricane season positively is Saharan dust if we get a good concentration of it that can inhibit hurricane development. Typically we do have some dust come across the Atlantic and sometimes into the Gulf during the summer months and early Fall. How much of that we see or lack there of can impact how many storms we see or lack there of. As always I'll provide updates on the continuation of La Niña and updates during the 2022 Hurricane season.
