# La Niña in the PNW
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-nina-in-the-pnw/422740
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 15, 2007, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-nina-in-the-pnw/422740 "2007-10-15T01:56:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2007, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-nina-in-the-pnw/422740/1 "2007-10-15T01:56:26Z")
I heard that we have an El Niña this year. Am I correct that this Fall and Winter will be colder and wetter than normal?
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### Author:  [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-nina-in-the-pnw/422740/2 "2007-10-15T02:44:41Z")
That’s the theory I’ve heard as well. I imagine the ski resorts will be loving this season, if true.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2007, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-nina-in-the-pnw/422740/3 "2007-10-15T11:39:17Z")
You can’t say for definite, but it does mean that it’s more likely, yes. The PNW is of course affected more directly by La Niña than we are over here. Unfortunately it seems like these days it doesn’t matter if there’s an El Niño, La Niña or neither, we still can’t get a cold winter in the UK. I miss the snowy winters of my youth ☹
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2007, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-nina-in-the-pnw/422740/4 "2007-10-15T11:44:46Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon]
I miss the snowy winters of my youth ☹
[/QUOTE]
Are you a poet? If not, you should be.
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### Author:  [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-nina-in-the-pnw/422740/5 "2007-10-15T19:19:29Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.]
I heard that we have an El Niña this year. Am I correct that this Fall and Winter will be colder and wetter than normal?
[/QUOTE]
Yep. The Pacific Northwest bears the brunt of a lot of precipitation in La Niña years.
> [@NOAA](#):
>
> Typical La Niña Impacts
> La Niña tends to bring nearly opposite effects of El Niño to the United States — **wetter than normal conditions across the Pacific Northwest** and dryer and warmer than normal conditions across much of the southern tier. The impacts of El Niño and La Niña at these latitudes are most clearly seen in wintertime. In the continental U.S., during El Niño years, temperatures in the winter are warmer than normal in the North Central States, and cooler than normal in the Southeast and the Southwest. During a La Niña year, winter temperatures are warmer than normal in the Southeast and **cooler than normal in the Northwest.**
[http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/lanina.html](http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/lanina.html) (bolding mine)
Here’s a map depiciting some of the effects of La Niña in winter and summer:
[ ](https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/impacts/cold.gif)
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-nina-in-the-pnw/422740/6 "2007-10-15T19:26:21Z")
Is it La Niña or El Niño? I thought it was the latter that brings wetter weather to the West Coast; while the former can bring about drought like conditions.
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### Author:  [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-nina-in-the-pnw/422740/7 "2007-10-15T21:59:05Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus]
Is it La Niña or El Niño? I thought it was the latter that brings wetter weather to the West Coast; while the former can bring about drought like conditions.
[/QUOTE]
It’s La Niña - you can check the sites I linked to.
You might be thinking of California rather than the Pacific NW. California gets higher than average rainfall in El Niño winters, and Southern California get lower than average rainfall in La Niña winters. Northern California is rain-neutral in La Niña winters (as far as we know - there are historical examples of rainfall going both ways.) The Pacific Northwest has higher than normal rainfall in La Niña years.