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El Nino Drought Cycle

The southwest has big droughts. We're built for drought. We should expect droughts. It's related to cycles of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. So in the winter time in the southwest, when we have a warm tropical Pacific Ocean, it's more energetic putting more moisture out there. We typically have a wet winter in the southwest. When we have a cool tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, we get a drought pattern. Those years are called La Nina years. Those stacking up of La Nina winters over decades gives us these drought cycles we're currently experiencing right now.

Publisher
PBS Learning Media

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