Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Ryen Nielsen

Teacher/Naturalist Intern

Many Minnesotans have been saying that winter is looking pretty different this year. For many, our lack of a white Christmas prompted folks to start wondering just what was happening with our weather. After all, we already had a dry, hot summer, so why are we also having a dry winter? We can credit this to a climate pattern known as El Niño which causes changes in currents and the jet stream.

Depending on where you are on Earth, your climate and weather are subject to different air and ocean currents that circulate the globe. In a typical year, the trade winds, which are located along the equator, flow over the ocean and move warmer water west, away from South America and towards Asia. This shift of warmer water causes an event called upwelling, where cold water rises upward to replace the, now absent, warmer water. Upwelling events in the ocean help cycle nutrients from the bottom of the ocean closer to the surface. These areas of upwelling have greater biological diversity and higher populations of fish, zooplankton, and phytoplankton.

El Niño years are not typical years. El Niño refers to a global pattern of weather that weakens the trade winds and breaks the normal cycles of upwelling.  When trade winds weaken, the warmer water that was normally pushed west, now moves east towards the west coast of the United States.

This halts the usual cycles of upwelling that would normally occur along the coast and shifts another air current, the Pacific Jet Stream, south. Jet streams are very strong bands of wind located in the upper atmosphere that blow at very high speeds. The location of the jet stream influences areas of high and low pressure on the ground which can create different weather patterns. For example, Polar Vortexes are formed when the Polar Jet Stream shifts south.

During an El Niño period, because the Pacific Jet Stream shifts, places in the American Southwest which are typically very dry and desert-like, become floodplains. Areas in the Northern United States which typically receive more rain and relatively mild summers will experience dry, hot summers like we did in Minnesota this year. This dry weather pattern continues into the winter months with the northern United States experiencing significantly less snowfall.

El Niño doesn’t last forever though. On average, El Niño episodes last for about 9-12 months, but this climate pattern can sometimes push on for longer. We can expect an El Niño episode to occur about every 2-7 years. Our last El Niño episode lasted from late 2018 to mid-2019.

January at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center

Reminder: We are closed on Sundays

Look for pop-up cross-country ski lessons when conditions allow.

Ski and snowshoe rentals will be available when we have at least six inches of snow to groom trails.

Jan. 12: Cedar River Astronomy Club – Interpretive Center, open to everyone, must RSVP, 7-8 p.m.

Jan. 27: Friends Members Only – Free cross-country ski lessons, depending on conditions. Must RSVP, 8:30-10:30 a.m.

Jan. 27: Friends Annual Meeting, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.