NOAA: What El Nino & La Nina Mean for Northern California

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The Niño-Niña-NorCal puzzle

The Niño-Niña-NorCal puzzle: Why El Niño isn't always a "slam dunk" wet winter for NorCal (video has no sound)

Posted by US National Weather Service Sacramento California on Friday, August 14, 2015

NOAA is calling for a strong El Nino this winter.  NOAA in California is trying to tell us that just because it’s going to be a strong El Nino doesn’t mean that we’ll get above average snowfall this coming winter.

They’re also telling us that El Nino doesn’t generally favor an above average precipitation winter in northern California while at the same time La Nina doesn’t favor an above average precipitation winter either.  

Northern California lives in between the bullseyes of both El Nino & La Nino so for us, both El Nino and La Nina are coin flips.  50-50.

Lets hope the coin flips our way this winter in northern California and we get dumped on!


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3 thoughts on “NOAA: What El Nino & La Nina Mean for Northern California

  1. Amen cb. I live in Las Vegas and got in 30+ days each of the last few years everywhere from wyoming, Utah, Tahoe, Mammoth, Colorado, British Columbia, and too many small places in between to mention. If you crave pow you gotta chase it. If you go to Tahoe heavenly I would say is one of the worst options unless you go on a snow vacation for nightlife. I know this right now I’m ready for some winter and with the nino on its way let’s all hope we get another 2011. Thanks to everyone that keeps snowbrains.com going I love the site and it has turned into one of my only daily checks. You have inspired me to travel further, go bigger, and take in the beauty of these wonderful places we get to ski/ride in. Thanks again.

  2. Anything would be better than last years disaster out west…although I had an unbelievably good week in Aspen in early March in an unbelievably bad year!

    But being new to skiing out west, would be nice to check out Heavenly, Alta and Big White…but I am not dropping 2 to 3 grand on a ski trip if the skiing is no better than it is in Vermont.

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