La Niña to drop harsh winter weather over parts of Canada

October 12, 2011 – CANADA – Predicting the weather remains one of the most difficult challenges, despite the technological advances in recent years, but one U.S.-based group has boldly called for a colder-than-usual winter for the West Coast of southern B.C. Weather forecaster AccuWeather says the more frigid temperatures and an increase of snow are on their way. The American forecaster made the chilly prediction on Monday, saying another La Niña is behind it all. Cold winters with significant snowfall has become the usual in the Nanaimo region in the past decade. Looking back, the trends demonstrate that massive snow dumps and cold-weather snaps can come at any time. Weather predictions get less accurate the further away people place their estimates, but understanding the La Nina and El Niño weather systems help understand overall trends. The La Niña weather-system phenomenon brings in cooler temperatures from the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. In the winter of 2010-11, such a system produced a terrific amount of snow in the coastal mountains. AccuWeather guesses the 20011-12 West Coast winter will be one of the coldest three winters in the past 20 years around Vancouver and Victoria. Given historical patterns, Nanaimo will also be hit hard should such conditions strike the region. Environment Canada experts would not predict a La Niña year as of Monday, but a weather map issued Oct. 1 forecasting temperatures for October to December also predicts it will be colder than normal for Western Canada. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has also said La Niña is coming. –Canada

Sierras see shortest summer in 40 years: For months now, I had reserved the second weekend in October for my annual grand finale “summertime” backpacking trip. Culminating an unusually short warm season, this was to be the ceremonial final alpine lake swim, the last mosquito bloodletting until well after next year’s thaw. Which is why, as my partner and I proceeded to pitch our tent in about 10 inches of snow last Friday evening, I couldn’t help but feel I’d been had. Last week’s storm, which swept across the northern half of California early Wednesday, dumped up to a foot of snow in the Sierra’s high peaks, with accumulation as low as 5,000 feet. According to the Central Sierra Snow Lab, this is the first snowstorm in 96 days – since July 1 – marking the shortest duration between storms in the Sierra since 1969. –Climate Watch – photo Matthew Green