El Nino, La Nina and your weather

You've probably heard of either El Nino (according to the old Chris Farley SNL skit, that's Spanish for "The Nino"), or La Nina. I'll give you a brief overview and point you to a great source for more information. Why do you want to know more? Because these are two global weather conditions that affect what happens in your backyard.

Let's start with the more famous El Nino, which we diagnose by observing warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures off the coast of South America. The worldwide effects include reversing the flow across the Pacific Ocean and causing drought (usually followed by wildfires) in Australia and Indonesia. I'll point you to a source where you can see what El Nino effects tend to be closer to where you live in just a paragraph or two.

Then there's La Nina, the other side of the coin. These conditions result when we measure COOLER-than-average sea surface temperatures off the coast of South America. We've been in La Nina conditions for the past few months.

The effects tend to be less dramatic than with an El Nino, and, in fact, the La Nina appears to be weakening, but in the past, the condition has lead to...
Lower than average precipitation in the southern United States
Lower than average temperatures in the Pacific Northwest
Higher than average temperatures in the southwestern and southcentral states (that's us)

To find out more, point your browser to www.elnino.noaa.gov (it will tell you about both El Nino and La Nina, and give you access to lots of other information about past, present and future conditions.

Chinook winds

The first few days of March will see highs reaching the 60s and 70s in eastern Colorado, boosted by gusty "Chinook" winds. These winds are a fact of life for cities east of the Rockies. Here's a little insight into how they work.

1) The word "Chinook" comes from an aboriginal American dialect, and loosely-translated means "snow eater". That's because these winds are so warm and dry, that when they encounter snow, it doesn't melt, it goes directly from snow to water vapor.

2) The east slopes of the Rockies aren't the only place that experiences this effect. Various warm-dry winds are also in California (Santa Ana) and Austria (Foehn).

3) Here's a simple explanation of how they work. When moist air is forced to ascend a mountain, in our case, on the western slope, it cools until its temperature equals its dew point, at which point we say it's saturated, and a cloud begins to form. From this point on, it cools more slowly until it reaches the top of the mountain.

4) As this air is forced down the "lee" side (in our case, the eastern slopes of the Rockies). It's never saturated, warms and dries dramatically, and, in fact, ends up warmer and drier than it was on the other side. (Search "Chinook Wind" on the web, or see any 101-level meteorology textbook for more details).

It's one of the phenomena that makes living along the east slopes of the Rockies so interesting.

Now on to another matter. In the world of technology, the jury is still out on the matter of adults (in my case ADULT+) and portable video game systems. There are strong feelings on both sides. ("They're for kids" and "I LOVE THIS THING"). I've decided that I need one for those rare spare moments when I just need to take a break and lay waste to large areas of real estate (digitally only, of course).

I'm comparing Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS Lite. I'll keep you posted as the decision process evolves.