Hello, Im Kristine the weather intern. I attend the University of Toledo and have always had a facination with weather. I will be a senior this year and will be graduating in the spring with my bachelors degree in communications!

Looks like El Niño is making a return for the rest of 2009 and into 2010.

According to NOAA, over the next couple of months the water over the central and eastern tropical Pacific waters will be gradually warming causing a significant impact on global weather. El Niño influences the weather pattern, and its impacts depend on a variety of factors, such as intensity and extent of ocean warming, and the time of year. This year, it will be expected to last through winter 2009-10. Should we be worried? El Niño’s negative impacts have included damaging winter storms in California and increased storminess across the southern United States. Some past El Niño’s have also produced severe flooding and mudslides in Central and South America, and drought in Indonesia.

It’s not all bad! On the positive side, El Niño can help to suppress Atlantic hurricane activity. In the United States, it typically brings beneficial winter precipitation to the arid Southwest, less wintry weather across the North, and a reduced risk of Florida. So for kid’s in our area, it could mean bad news for the much anticipated snow days. 

This is a picture of El Niño back in 1997 taken from space. The large white area represents a mass of warm water 30 times greater than all the Great Lakes!

Here are some facts about the phenomenom.