Livestock Weather for Nov. 10, 2017:  La Niña Advisory Issued. Milder and Drier This Winter?

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SPONSORED CONTENT Livestock Wx for Nov. 10, 2017:  La Niña Advisory Issued. Milder and Drier This Winter?
Sea surface temperatures within the equatorial Pacific (shades of blue below) are unusually cool. When this region of the Pacific is unusually cool, it is considered a La Niña event.
This La Niña is expected to be relatively weak and short-lived. Typically, warmer- and drier-than-normal conditions occur over the South Central U.S. during a La Niña winter. The below image shows the average difference (anomaly) in rainfall for weak La Niña winters (December-January-February). Only years were used that had an Oceanic Niño Index (one of the indices NOAA uses to assess El Niño or La Niña events) of -1.0°C or less.  NOAA considers anything -0.5°C or less as a La Niña.

October temperatures averaged fairly close to normal over Texas and Oklahoma; however, it was also unusually dry across most of Texas but wetter than normal over most of Oklahoma.
 

Drought has been expanding for parts of Texas and Oklahoma.  October is normally one of the wetter months in Central Texas.  Rainfall has been hit or miss for most of September and October and has resulted in the expansion of abnormally dry conditions (D0) across the Southwest, Central, North Texas areas. Some areas that were already abnormally dry went into Moderate Drought (D1) in Central Texas, along with parts of North Texas and southeastern Oklahoma. The image below shows these dry and droughty conditions along with the cattle inventory in those areas.

If you have any questions about what to expect during this weak La Niña winter please contact us at [email protected]