COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The 2010-2011 winter season will be marked by the presence of La Nina.
La Nina is the cooling of the waters in the Pacific. This phenomenon will drive the jetstream, or storm track, farther north. For southern Colorado, this generally leads to warmer, drier conditions.
It's not all completely doom and gloom for the higher elevations. While most La Nina years have brought dangerously dry conditions to the mountains, the lack of a moving storm track has actually kept stagnant snowfall around the Continental Divide in some years. These years saw above average snowfall for the mountains.
If the stagnation leads to dry weather, fire season will be very dangerous for the beginning of 2011.
La Nina does not mean there won't be snowstorms or cold temperatures however. Climatologically, it just means there will be less of an opportunity to see strong weather systems pass through. Southern Colorado should still expect the potential for day-to-day changes in the weather pattern.
Weather page
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKXRM