Vilheim and Jacob Bjerknes and Jorgen Holmboe NAC-130

It is raining today here in San Diego. Still, it is not enough to eliminate the effects of severe drought conditions that we are experiencing due to a weather phenomenon known as La Niña. This has the opposite effect from El Niño, which results in the west coast of California receiving more rain than it can handle.

In reading about El Niño and La Niña, I discovered that in 1969, a Norwegian-American meteorologist named Jacob Bjerknes, while living in Los Angeles, was the one who brought public attention to and greater understanding of the El Niño condition. The El Niño Southern Oscillation is caused by an abnormally warm spot that develops in the eastern Pacific Ocean. This disrupts the standard east-west temperature differential patterns. Trade winds typically push the warm water to the west, but when El Niño occurs, the warm water is moved to the east toward the western shores of California. Of course, this disruption to the storm tracks affects more than just California, for all of the nations along the Pacific Ocean experience varying disruptions to their weather pattern due to El Niño. The opposite occurs with La Niña, creating drought to California and wet conditions in Oregon, Washington, and elsewhere. These conditions happen every 3-7 years.

Read More Here:

NAC-130 Meterologists.pdf

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