Warmer than average weather is expected across much of the nation for the upcoming month of April. That’s according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, which issued its outlook for the month of April last week. The East, Great Lakes, South, Plains and Southwest are all expected to see above normal temperatures. The Pacific Northwest is the only area of the country where odds favorable colder than average weather.
A wetter than normal month is predicted for the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. Below normal precipitation is in the forecast from the Southwest through the southern Plains into the Southeast. This will unfortunately create additional drought conditions, especially for the Four Corners area.
A persistent La Nina was one the driving factor in the forecast for April and the Climate Prediction Center expects conditions to last for several months. La Nina occurs when the waters of the Pacific Ocean show a general trend of cooling, the opposite of an El Nino. During La Nina periods, the Jet Stream is not usually active in the Southern U.S. This usually leads to less storms systems and below average precipitation. Cooler than normal weather typically occurs across the northern tier of the country and occasionally wetter periods as well.
The latest model guidance, decadal trends, soil moisture, current and likely snowpack, and sea surface temperatures also impacted the April outlook.