According to a recent story on CNN, La Nina is expected to influence weather patterns across the country for the second year in a row. Weather officials say with La Nina in place, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and other surrounding states are unlikely to get enough rain to alleviate the ongoing drought.
“Ninety-one percent of Texas, 87 percent of Oklahoma and 63 percent of New Mexico are experiencing extreme or exceptional drought,” said David Brown, director of the Southern Region Climate Services based in Fort Worth, Texas.
With most of Texas more than 30 inches of rain below normal levels, 3.5 million acres distroyed by wildfires, and with $5 Billion in agricultural losses, Texas wine country faces a potential 2012 replay of 2011s heat and drought which resulted in a smaller than normal grape harvest. While the harvest was small, the harvest “numbers” for grapes (e.g. sugar levels and acidity) where generally good.
Currently, the projections are for the La Nina to stay in place through February 2012. However, if you want to go into the deep weeds of weather, the wild card is the Arctic Oscillation (its a weather condition, not a dance move) which has the potential of overwhelm the influence of La Nina and moderate its stranglehold on our Texas weather.
More: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/20/us/winter-weather-forecast/index.html?iref=allsearch
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