How will three La Niña seasons affect the PNW?

Washington state is facing a third La Niña season in a row. It’s the first time in a century we’re seeing this “threepeat” of La Niña, as opposed to any of the milder, warmer weather expected with an El Niño, and it's likely to have some impacts on the Northwest's winter weather.

You likely remember some of the results of La Niña from last year when the Pacific Northwest saw significant flooding due to all that wet weather, and it’s not just us. This weather pattern impacts the entirety of the western U.S., as well as other countries located on the Pacific, like Australia, Indonesia, and East Africa.

And a new study led by the University of Washington suggests these weather patterns could keep coming. Lead author Robert Jnglin Wills spoke with Soundside host Libby Denkmann about why we might be seeing more La Niña like weather patterns.

“The Pacific Ocean naturally cycles between El Niño and La Niña conditions, but our work suggests that climate change could currently be weighing the dice toward La Niña,” Jnglin Wills said in a statement. “At some point, we expect anthropogenic, or human-caused, influences to reverse these trends and give El Niño the upper hand.”

Jnglin Wills is also a climate scientist in the University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Sciences.

Listen to the full conversation by hitting the play button above.