10/14/11

La Niña means 2012 Missouri River flooding redux

Snowflakes are falling in Deadwood, the upper Missouri River Basin is filling with snow again and the earth haters in Congress are preparing to politicize the Army Corps of Engineers Master Manual. The recent trip to Fort Peck revealed that every waterway, pond, and slough was still saturated with moisture from Spring runoff.

From Amanda Ricker at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle:
“Snow amounts similar to last year are possible,” said Jim Brusda, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Great Falls. La Niña has re-emerged in the tropical Pacific Ocean and is forecast to gradually strengthen and continue into winter. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has upgraded last month’s La Niña Watch to a La Niña Advisory. “The mountains are starting to get their snow, and the valleys are cooling down,” Brusda said. “It’s definitely cooler and definitely fall-like. We’re slowly transitioning into winter.”
According to Minnesota Public Radio's 'blod' of weather:
The theory goes like this. More snow in Siberia deepens atmospheric waves that cause the Polar Vortex to warm and the jet stream to plunge down over the eastern USA...bringing cold and snow.
President Obama: rewild the West by dismantling the main stem dams in favor of small hydropower and geothermal energy.

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