raindancewx

One very simple rule for SSTs is that from 1950-2020, you've never had Nino 3.4 drop by more than 1C from September to December-February. We're at 26.7C on the weeklies week one of August. A moderate La Nina would be 25.5C or colder in winter. Will August finish at 26.5C or colder? Possibly. Will September be below 26.5C - I would say so. But keep in mind, even though a 1C drop has been observed from September to winter, most cooling trends from September to Dec-Feb end up far weaker than that in practice. Last September was 25.88C, and the winter was 25.58C. If you use last year as an example, the big spikes up/down in the subsurface tend to lead the surface peaks by 3-6 weeks. So the big drop off now, once it stops, indicates we might see another ENSO peak prior to 11/1. Against the long-term averages, Nino 3.4 was coldest in November 2020 (25.3C v. 26.5C long-term average) after the subsurface was coldest in October.

One thing I like to do this time of year to start to winnow down analogs is to look at objectively good tropical matches in Dec-Feb for the prior winter that are still objectively good matches in July. The winters of 1966-67, 2000-01, 2010-11 were close winter SST matches in the tropics, and 1967, 2001, and 2011 are still close in July. 1966-67 was probably the best of the three overall for US conditions, but we had an exaggerated version of that pattern in winter. Winter 2020-21 was kind of opposite the very cold Dec 2010/2000 pattern, which is I 'knew' would be unlikely heading into last winter. The current July, and August pattern so far pretty is close to 1967 nationally. The blend of 1967-68, 2001-02, 2011-12 is a very weak La Nina in winter that is coldest in Nino 3, warmest in Nino 4, and then weakens sharply in Feb-Mar from the east. You can see the big -PDO signature with very warm water near Japan, and some cold water by the equator in the Atlantic like we've had in recent weeks. I don't think this look is quite right though, and I don't think the US temperature pattern it produces is correct either. We're still not that close to long-term La Nina conditions at the surface. Nino 3.4 needs to be around 26.15C in August to be even -0.5C against 1951-2010 averages. Nino 1.2 remaining warm into October against a -PDO base state in March-August tends to precede a flip to a more +PDO state in Nov-Apr. Something that needs to be watched. Nino1+2 Nino3 Nino34 Nino4 Week SST SSTA SST SSTA SST SSTA SST SSTA 09JUN2021 23.2-0.0 26.7-0.0 27.8-0.0 28.9-0.1 16JUN2021 23.3 0.4 26.0-0.5 27.2-0.5 28.8-0.2 23JUN2021 22.9 0.2 26.3-0.0 27.6-0.0 29.0 0.0 30JUN2021 22.6 0.3 26.2 0.0 27.5-0.1 28.8-0.1 07JUL2021 22.2 0.1 26.0-0.0 27.4-0.0 28.9-0.1 14JUL2021 22.2 0.4 25.9 0.1 27.2-0.1 28.6-0.4 21JUL2021 22.1 0.6 25.2-0.4 26.8-0.5 28.5-0.4 28JUL2021 22.1 0.8 25.1-0.4 26.7-0.4 28.7-0.1 04AUG2021 21.7 0.7 25.1-0.2 26.7-0.3 28.6-0.2 05AUG2020 19.8-1.3 24.6-0.7 26.3-0.7 28.4-0.4 I do think these years are likely to continue to watch well to 2021 in Nino 3.4 through at least December. You can see August should be near the speculative 26.5C going by week one. At 26.1C in September that would be the initiation of the La Nina if the blend isn't too cold. The current big time drop off in the subsurface will likely flatten or reverse a bit in a few weeks, as that water works up to the surface. I think you'll see a pattern fake in late September-October when that happens before a transition in November. My guess is this is another cold ENSO with a relatively early surface peak. The 2020-21 event was much more impressive in the Fall than the Winter by historical standards. Something like a top 1/3 cold event in October or November, and then well below that by the end of the winter.

It's a bit disingenuous to say we're ahead of last year. The warmth from April-June has to wash out fully first. More relevant is how the trend is from last year anyway. The way the similar cold below the surface has arrived in July is completely opposite last year both at depth (the 0-300m readings) and in an 2D East/West, North/South sense. The La Nina of 2020-21 was really an April-March thing in terms of the subsurface. This event is probably an August or September start at this point, pending how long it lasts. The subsurface last year featured several giant rises and dips that coincided with huge changes in the seasonal US weather pattern. It's not a coincidence that the huge cold periods in the central/western US coincided with a flip from declining heat to rising heat both times (Oct and Feb were the flips in trend). One reason I had liked 2007-08 last year was for the double peak in the subsurface, in October and then January, it was very much like 2020-21. The idea that last year was a Moderate La Nina is still kind of silly to me, when the "-1.3" or whatever CPC uses for 2020-21 is based on a much warmer average for Dec-Feb than earlier La Ninas. In terms of actual SSTs, by coldest month or coldest month against constant averages, last year was warmer than roughly half of La Ninas. It's more of a weak event than a moderate one at the surface. Years like 2010-11 and 2011-12 had much more impressive peaks, especially given they followed a much stronger El Nino in 2009-10. The subsurface was colder at the peak of the 2011-12, 2010-11, 2008-09, 2007-08, 1999-00, 1998-99, 1995-96, 1988-89, 1983-84 events compared to 2020-21. That's almost every La Nina since 1980...

Compared to last year, Nino 3 (and 1.2 also) are still much warmer at the surface, while Nino 4 is colder. The ONI values / raw SST data for July updated, so the matches above are the closest objective matches. I then compared the observations to the 1951-2010 average for the blend, and 2021 itself. It won't last long in Nino 3.4, but 1986 is currently the top match for the three zones. The SOI/SST matches I've shown recently, including 1967, 2011, 2013, 1979, etc, have all shown up again. These years are generally cold Augusts, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

These are the top SOI matches to 2021 for May-July from 1931-2020 (+3.9, +0.0, +16.3 in 2021 for each month respectively). I had used Spring 1979 as an analog for Spring 2021, given that the cold-ENSO 1978-79 winter followed two El Ninos near/following the solar minimum (1976-77, 1977-78) and had ~record +NAO/AO values in November before transitioning to a huge cold period in late winter. NAO was +3.0 or something insane in Nov 1978 before dying later on. Was pretty similar in 2020 and I knew that by the time I did the Spring Outlook in February. The 7th closest SOI match (really a ~ three-way tie between 1936, 1939, and 1960) is 1960, and the 1959-60 winter was also very similar at times (Dec/Feb) for temp patterns nationally, and 1960 has worked sporadically as a match in Spring/Summer 2021. If you don't know, 1936 and 2011 are both very hot Summers nationally, so interesting to see them both show up as top matches. July 1960 had incredible heat in the Northwest, similar to 2021. The "look" that is supposed to happen in August nationally is fairly similar to August 1939, 1936 blended toward 1939, and then maybe a touch colder overall. SOI May June July Distance (less = closer to 2021) 1979 +4.0 +4.5 +13.6 (warm-Neutral winter) (7.2 off) 2011 +2.1 +0.9 +9.1 (La Nina winter) (9.8 off) 2010 +10.5 +1.3 +18.7 (La Nina winter) (10.3 off) 1974 +10.6 +1.7 +11.1 (La Nina winter) (13.5 off) 1939 -0.4 -1.8 +7.5 (El Nino winter) (14.9 off) 1936 +4.7 -1.8 +3.9 (warm-Neutral winter) (15.0 off) Blend: +5.3 +0.8 +10.7 2021 +3.9 +0.0 +16.3

Subsurface heat content for May-July 0-300m below 100-180W in the Tropical Pacific best matches 1981, 1987, 2014, 2014 as a blend. The blend of those four features big drops in the subsurface at similar magnitude to 2021 in May-->June, June-->July. Historically, for 1979-2020, most years around -0.3 to -0.4 in July subsurface readings do end up as La Ninas, but quite a few in that area are Neutrals. A lot of years are borderline too, with only 1-3 months 0.5C or colder than the 1951-2010 average in Nino 3.4. When I talk about a Neutral that's what I mean. I'm pretty sure the surface will drop to La Nina cold levels - just not convinced it will be long enough for an official event yet. Last year, you already had the subsurface very cold in Apr-Aug prior to the surface getting cold enough to be in a La Nina in late August. Nino1+2 Nino3 Nino34 Nino4 Week SST SSTA SST SSTA SST SSTA SST SSTA 07JUL2021 22.2 0.1 26.0-0.0 27.4-0.0 28.9-0.1 14JUL2021 22.2 0.4 25.9 0.1 27.2-0.1 28.6-0.4 21JUL2021 22.1 0.6 25.2-0.4 26.8-0.5 28.5-0.4 28JUL2021 22.1 0.8 25.1-0.4 26.7-0.4 28.7-0.1 We're seeing a very nice Summer locally, with cool to near average highs in May, June, and July, wet conditions and somewhat warm lows. Total year to date 90 degree highs here are running below the 100 year median and average. Part of that to me is that La Nina doesn't seem to switch on until ~26C in winter, and even in August it's ~26.15C (26.65C is average for 1951-2020). So we're just not that close yet at the surface, with 27.0-27.1C likely to be the monthly number for July.

One thing 2013 has going for it outside the tropics is the y/y transition in the Arctic. The 2012 and 2020 sea ice extent were both very low with dis-favorable patterns up there in Summer. We seem to be in a better pattern for the ice retention in Summer 2021 - so far anyway - similar to how Summer 2013 was. I had used 2012-13 as a double weighted analog last year ahead of winter, mostly for precipitation patterns nationally rather than temperature patterns, so it's been interesting to see 2013 is still a decent match. July 2013 is pretty similar to the temperature spatial pattern of July 2021 nationally, and drought nuking rain of July 2013 has been present in the Southwest. I kind of "knew" this was coming, which is why I was so annoyed in that "look it's hot SW" climate thread from June when it was obvious we are entering our wettest Summer pattern in literally years. Here is Albuquerque for July 2021 v. July 2020:

Right now, 2013 is a decent match for SSTs globally. It's amazing how different the weeklies, tropical tidbits, and these maps all look frankly. I would say we're behind 2013-14 still at the surface, and I don't consider that year a La Nina for winter. That cold water off western North America is the main issue with 2013.

My interest in looking at the NAO is mostly from a national temperature perspective rather than identifying periods for Nor'easters or something. In that sense, it is most useful from about mid-January to mid-April. For Nov-Jan, the AO is more important in terms of long-term correlations. For precipitation, the NAO actually has some pretty strong correlations in various places too. The WPO is actually pretty useful in Sept-Nov, and then in Feb-Apr for temperature patterns too, in a correlation sense. Locally, the +NAO/AO is actually a good signal later on if it happens in November from what I can see. The seven winters with 'rising' but still low solar are all -AO winters too, if that's your preferred measure. November NAO values are a good long-term indicator here for how wet late Spring will be, but otherwise it's not that useful until later in winter for national patterns for temps/precip. The long-term WPO correlations on the other hand correspond almost perfectly to some of the wild temperature pattern swings in the Fall and Spring in the past year. My point with the NAO/AO stuff isn't that I can see with 100% certainty that they'll be negative this winter. It's just we're nearing the end of the historical 'solar' time frame when odds of a -NAO winter are likely. To me it's worth figuring out whether we'll have one more winter with an extended -NAO/AO before we predominantly switch back to mostly positive NAO/AO winters. New Mexico is uniquely weird in that we get our top snow years in both the highest NAO/AO and lowest NAO/AO winters. So I'm actually pretty indifferent about what ends up happening typically, since most years are relatively neutral. You could see solar activity rise from 16 sunspots/month to 30, about the level of gain from 2019-20 to 2020-21. Or you could see it rise to 68 or something if we're going into a bigger cycle (more active sun) than last time. In the latter case, there is no particular signal in the solar data. April 2021 NAO was also negative like April 2020, which hadn't happened in forever prior to 2020, so that was my first tip off to pay attention to it again this year. Most people seem to use Nino 3.4 as an estimate for what the PNA is going to do, even though the correlation is ~0.3 r-squared for DJF, and much weaker in December. The Nino 3.4 to PNA correlation in August is literally stronger than December to Nino 3.4 for the PNA, so I always find the way it is used to be a bit strange. The image below actually supports a La Nina though, as the PNA correlation to Nino 3.4 is negative (+PNA = -ENSO) long term. https://psl.noaa.gov/data/correlation/table/corr.table_dec.txt https://psl.noaa.gov/data/correlation/table/corr.table_jan.txt https://psl.noaa.gov/data/correlation/table/corr.table_feb.txt

-NAO (DJF) winters (in aggregate): 1954, 1955, 1957, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1977, 1978, 1986, 1997, 2009, 2010, 2020. I would argue a year like 2000-01 or 1967-68 is more "-nao" in reality than a "fake" -nao year like 1997-98, but the point is, roughly half of years with rising solar since 1950 see a net -NAO in winter. The "rising" but still low (<55 sunspots per month July-Jun) years are: 1954, 1965, 1986, 1997, 2009, 2010, 2020. That's seven for seven for a net -NAO, whereas the "rising" but high years are six for twenty. The odds are not bad overall even if you want to regress the 7 for 7 with the x+1/y+2 rule with some Bayesian assumptions, i.e. assume the trend would go from 7/7 to 8/9. The 2021-22 July-June solar year is starting off with around 40 sunspots this month - going to be real interesting to see how rapidly solar rises this year. It's harder to predict than the decays from the peak solar I find.

Albuquerque has had two or three flash flood warnings this July. Something like 0.02" at the airport those days, with 3-5 inches elsewhere in the city. Just ridiculously localized events. Drought has really been getting it's ass kicked though. National pattern this month has some resemblance to July 2013, so not too surprising. I'm leaning toward an early peaking very weak La Nina Modoki this winter, with the North Pacific very warm basin wide and a relatively cool eastern Atlantic. There are a lot of ways to match what the CFS shows for the winter sea surface temperatures, but I think 2016 + 1960 or 1967, blended with more recent years is probably the it will go. Something like a blend of 1960-61, 1967-68, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2016-17, 2020-21 gets you the right PDO/AMO/Solar/Modoki/low sea ice configuration at about the right ENSO strength. Still a lot of refining to do on my end though.

To me, and this isn't my forecast - I'll link it here when I finish by 10/10/21 - the CFS SST anomaly forecast looks like a blend of 1960-61, 1967-68, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2016-17 and 2020-21, with weak La Nina Modoki peaking NDJ, around 150W at it's core. I warmed up the oceans by 0.2C to account for the warming from the average analog date of 1997 (~0.2C of warming for 24 years). It's hard to match that level of warmth east of Japan - I think it will spread out more than what the model shows. The weaker tendency for cold ENSO by South America looks correct to me. December 1960 / 1967 are actually stupid cold in some places nationally, but it gets wiped out by the other years for the default "warm Nino 4" look we so often see in recent Decembers. That said, I do think something similar to December 1960 is possible nationally if things break a certain way over the next few months. These winters where all four Nino zones are convective-ly shut down or diminished seem to be the most volatile of the cold ENSO years.

You can see compared to last year, this event has developed differently. Western origin in 2021 v. Eastern origin in 2020. Nino 1.2 and Nino 3 were both very cold already last year. But, Nino 4 was still pretty normal. Last year shifted from being coldest East to coldest West. My current sense is you won't see a big shift to the Eastern Zones coldest. But that's something to look for in the coming months. 10JUN2020 22.2-1.0 25.7-1.0 27.1-0.7 28.8-0.2 17JUN2020 22.2-0.7 25.7-0.8 27.2-0.6 29.1 0.1 24JUN2020 21.6-1.0 25.8-0.5 27.6-0.0 29.3 0.3 01JUL2020 21.1-1.2 25.5-0.6 27.3-0.2 29.1 0.1 08JUL2020 21.1-0.9 25.3-0.6 27.2-0.3 29.1 0.1 15JUL2020 20.2-1.5 25.1-0.7 27.0-0.3 28.8-0.1 22JUL2020 20.2-1.3 25.0-0.7 26.8-0.5 28.7-0.2 09JUN2021 23.2-0.0 26.7-0.0 27.8-0.0 28.9-0.1 16JUN2021 23.3 0.4 26.0-0.5 27.2-0.5 28.8-0.2 23JUN2021 22.9 0.2 26.3-0.0 27.6-0.0 29.0 0.0 30JUN2021 22.6 0.3 26.2 0.0 27.5-0.1 28.8-0.1 07JUL2021 22.2 0.1 26.0-0.0 27.4-0.0 28.9-0.1 14JUL2021 22.2 0.4 25.9 0.1 27.2-0.1 28.6-0.4 21JUL2021 22.1 0.6 25.2-0.4 26.8-0.5 28.5-0.4 For my purposes, La Nina conditions in July or August should be 0.5C below the reading observed from 1951-2010. So for July, that's 26.54C or colder, and 26.15C or colder for August. CPC uses 26.79C as -0.5C for July and 26.36C as -0.5C for August using the most recent 30-year period. I think those thresholds are too warm to sync correctly with La Nina conditions. You can see sort of see that with the cold south look for this month.

Nino1+2 Nino3 Nino34 Nino4 Week SST SSTA SST SSTA SST SSTA SST SSTA 09JUN2021 23.2-0.0 26.7-0.0 27.8-0.0 28.9-0.1 16JUN2021 23.3 0.4 26.0-0.5 27.2-0.5 28.8-0.2 23JUN2021 22.9 0.2 26.3-0.0 27.6-0.0 29.0 0.0 30JUN2021 22.6 0.3 26.2 0.0 27.5-0.1 28.8-0.1 07JUL2021 22.2 0.1 26.0-0.0 27.4-0.0 28.9-0.1 14JUL2021 22.2 0.4 25.9 0.1 27.2-0.1 28.6-0.4 21JUL2021 22.1 0.6 25.2-0.4 26.8-0.5 28.5-0.4 Haven't run it yet, but we'll interesting finding years with +May, +Jun, -Jul subsurface readings. We're probably going to flip into a Modoki La Nina in August, and then it may spread east later.

Should probably start looking at cold-ENSO years with weakening drought in NM/TX/AZ in May-July given how wet we've been lately. This tends to happen pretty reliably after we get our 600 decameter bs down here (we had record cold and rain in June too after, similar to the wet period following a hot period/strong high now), not that anyone ever rolls those events forward.

My NAO method doesn't work until September finishes, but just as a gut take, I thought this would be another winter with significant NAO volatility. Historically, you don't get ever get -NAO in February after a warm Nino 4 February (one year lag v. 28.85C if memory serves) using the 1981-2010 NAO baseline. You don't have that issue this year. Locally, the tendency in cold ENSO years is for July/Dec, and Aug/Feb to be negatively correlated twins. So when July is warm, I look for a cold December (worked last year), and when August is warm I look for a cold February. We had all time record heat in August last year, and then severe cold in February. August looks much colder here than 2020, which is consistent with a warmer West late winter/March and/or -NAO February/March (probably as an El Nino begins to rapidly develop late winter if I had to guess). Generally if it is very wet in the Southwest the final week of July, you guys in the East get your big Christmas warm up with a big low moving out of the Southwest. The monsoon has been pretty unusual (and non-traditional) and robust this year, so we'll see how that goes soon enough.

Exact Nino 3.4 July monthly figure will be interesting. From 1950-2020, the DJF value hasn't dropped off by more than ~1.8C from that level, and typically ~90%+ of the time, you'd get a smaller or much smaller drop off, even in a La Nina. ~27.25C in July and then a 1.75C drop to DJF would be around the 90-99th percentile for a drop, and still only as strong as last year. So a warmer cold ENSO event is the likely outcome. That said, 2017 had the 1.8C drop from July to DJF. The CFS doesn't really favor anything more than a whisper of cold at the moment for what it's worth. But it changes all the time. It has a weak modoki La Nina or cold Neutral - a few days ago it had no blue in Nino 3.4/4 at all.

Should be another pretty weird winter nationally. My hunch is we get a pretty rapid collapse in any La Nina / near La Nina that peaks around 11/1 in late winter. Then warms up from the east like a diet Spring 1997 by Spring 2022. La Nina with rapidly rising solar activity on a July-June annualized basis is kind of unusual if that's what we get. La Nina + Declining Solar (1930-2020): 1933-34, 1938-39, 1942-43, 1949-50, 1950-51, 1964-65, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1975-76, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1995-96, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2016-17, 2017-18 La Nina + Rapidly Rising Solar (1930-2020): 1955-56, 1956-57, 1988-89, 2010-11, 2011-12 La Nina + Weakly Rising (1930-2020): 1954-55, 2000-01, 2020-21 A lot of the "near" La Nina Neutrals are in the rising solar category too. It's definitely interesting that the three "weakly rising" La Ninas are all pretty cold for La Ninas where I am, with pretty substantial cold dumps that repeated cyclically on a national basis. Years Jul-Jun 1931 25.1 1932 14.5 1933 9.1 1934 27.6 1935 97.0 1936 172.8 1937 180.8 1938 171.6 1939 125.9 1940 94.4 1941 76.5 1942 33.9 1943 14.2 1944 33.8 1945 95.8 1946 197.9 1947 205.9 1948 194.4 1949 164.9 1950 103.4 1951 62.8 1952 36.4 1953 9.5 1954 19.2 1955 119.8 1956 237.6 1957 281.6 1958 255.4 1959 184.2 1960 116.6 1961 67.1 1962 42.2 1963 29.1 1964 16.6 1965 37.1 1966 104.2 1967 145.0 1968 155.7 1969 148.6 1970 115.7 1971 100.5 1972 75.4 1973 44.8 1974 34.6 1975 23.6 1976 23.2 1977 84.1 1978 169.9 1979 233.4 1980 199.1 1981 195.5 1982 129.2 1983 82.7 1984 25.9 1985 16.1 1986 19.1 1987 65.3 1988 182.8 1989 200.7 1990 200.8 1991 177.8 1992 103.3 1993 53.8 1994 36.9 1995 14.9 1996 14.5 1997 54.9 1998 115.2 1999 163.2 2000 163.4 2001 176.0 2002 131.0 2003 82.0 2004 55.3 2005 34.7 2006 20.1 2007 7.2 2008 2.3 2009 13.2 2010 44.0 2011 94.0 2012 87.4 2013 108.7 2014 90.7 2015 55.8 2016 28.5 2017 15.0 2018 5.5 2019 2.1 2020 16.1

The top matches in Nino 3, 3.4, and Nino 4 for Apr-Jun are below. The July weeklies have 26.0C currently in Nino 3, well warm of the top Nino 3 matches for Apr-Jun. Nino 3.4 in July is a bit better, still trending like 1986 and 2001. The best Apr-Jun match overall is 1967. That winter is crazy (go look Dec 1967 US temps), and one of the very coldest Nino 3 winters on record even though 3.4 isn't that cold. The matches for 1967, 1986, 1996, 2001 are pretty solid for AMJ. 60-yr in green is the 1951-2010 average by month. My gut instinct after last winter was we'd have kind of a cold-neutral Modoki La Nina look to 2021-22. That's kind of where we are now - but it's unlikely to hold through winter. July 1961 is also a fairly decent SST match in the Pacific/Atlantic. Terrible IOD match though, so probably won't hold.

Clouds are difficult to study. Shape, size, location, color all change very quickly. Even something like a count of the clouds is hard. How many clouds are in the GIF below would you say?

One thing to keep in mind too is the subsurface still isn't super-reliable as an indicator in July. If you went by this image, 2016 was the big La Nina relative to 2017. But it wasn't. It was already dead in February in February 2017. The 2017-18 was much more powerful, just started later.

I ran the numbers for April-June monthly conditions in Nino 3, Nino 3.4, and Nino 4. The best single match is 1967. But it is a terrible match to actual weather in the US. The other years that come up in multiple zones are all over the place for conditions. The general theme was years that match best to Apr-Jun become La Nina or Neutral winters...but they fade quickly to El Ninos in late winter. April-June 1959 is also a shockingly good match to April-June 2021 for US precipitation. Best match easily since the 1890s. I've mentioned I'm looking at 1959-1962 as a period for potential winter analogs - so this does support that.

Would be more meaningful if clouds were you know...stuck in place, steady in size, of consistent shape and arriving at constant times. I can't see the paper behind the paywall to see the methodology used. But my understanding was part of the reason studying clouds was hard is because most of the Earth is salt water at the surface, and it's hard to get ground observations of clouds that are reliable over a long period over the vast majority of the Earth. Satellites are better than ground observations at some things, but not everything. The other issue with studying clouds is that they'll likely arrive and develop from different places if the climate changes dramatically in a given spot over the coming decades. The changing origin of the clouds (or even introduction of extra sunlight / cloudiness in a over time) is more relevant long-term. More philosophically, you have different amounts of cloudiness not just by region but by time. So the effects from changing clouds would be by time of day, time of year, and then layered on top of the general pervasiveness of clouds in a region. Presumably, it's not a big deal where I am as we have something like weeks-months of near cloud free days per year, whereas Seattle or Boston would have the opposite, very few true cloud-free days. More generally, these papers usually ignore "ground clouds" like fog, freezing fog, mist, dust, haze, pollution, and so on. Not to mention the differences in terrain with rapid elevation changes where effects like shadows near dawn and dusk take effect and can interact with the "angles" of clouds so to speak. You can be shadowed from a cloud that isn't over head at the right time of day and so on.

Drought has really been getting it's ass kicked in recent weeks. Not drought busting, but drought denting for sure.

Subsurface has flipped negative this week which is a good sign for a La Nina. July should be near neutral or slightly negative for the subsurface. Still need to cool the surface a lot though. Nino1+2 Nino3 Nino34 Nino4 Week SST SSTA SST SSTA SST SSTA SST SSTA 02JUN2021 23.2-0.4 26.6-0.2 27.6-0.2 28.8-0.2 09JUN2021 23.2-0.0 26.7-0.0 27.8-0.0 28.9-0.1 16JUN2021 23.3 0.4 26.0-0.5 27.2-0.5 28.8-0.2 23JUN2021 22.9 0.2 26.3-0.0 27.6-0.0 29.0 0.0 30JUN2021 22.6 0.3 26.2 0.0 27.5-0.1 28.8-0.1 07JUL2021 22.2 0.1 26.0-0.0 27.4-0.0 28.9-0.1 14JUL2021 22.2 0.4 25.9 0.1 27.2-0.1 28.6-0.4 Here is last year for comparison. We're nowhere near as cold overall. I know people talk about 2020-21 as a Moderate La Nina, but in winter, if you use 26.5C as average, it was a weak La Nina, and barely spent any time as a moderate. Only two months were -1.0C or colder v. the 1951-2010 monthly averages. We're running +0.2C or so warmer currently than 2020 in Nino 3.4, which finished at -0.9C (25.57C or so) in winter. 03JUN2020 23.1-0.4 26.0-0.8 27.3-0.5 29.0 0.0 10JUN2020 22.2-1.0 25.7-1.0 27.1-0.7 28.8-0.2 17JUN2020 22.2-0.7 25.7-0.8 27.2-0.6 29.1 0.1 24JUN2020 21.6-1.0 25.8-0.5 27.6-0.0 29.3 0.3 01JUL2020 21.1-1.2 25.5-0.6 27.3-0.2 29.1 0.1 08JUL2020 21.1-0.9 25.3-0.6 27.2-0.3 29.1 0.1 15JUL2020 20.2-1.5 25.1-0.7 27.0-0.3 28.8-0.1 The current 'colder Nino 4' v. 'warmer' Nino 1.2/3 look is opposite July 2019/2020. Somewhat like 2012 and 2011. A blend of 2011/2012 is pretty close in all four zones currently. 06JUN2012 24.7 1.3 27.1 0.3 27.8 0.0 28.6-0.4 13JUN2012 24.4 1.3 27.1 0.5 27.9 0.2 28.6-0.4 20JUN2012 24.3 1.5 27.1 0.6 28.0 0.3 28.8-0.2 27JUN2012 23.8 1.4 27.1 0.8 28.1 0.5 28.9-0.1 04JUL2012 23.2 1.0 26.8 0.7 27.9 0.4 28.8-0.2 11JUL2012 22.6 0.7 26.6 0.7 27.7 0.3 28.8-0.2 01JUN2011 24.3 0.7 26.8-0.0 27.5-0.3 28.4-0.6 08JUN2011 24.2 0.9 26.7-0.0 27.5-0.3 28.4-0.5 15JUN2011 23.8 0.8 26.6 0.0 27.4-0.3 28.4-0.6 22JUN2011 23.2 0.5 26.5 0.1 27.4-0.2 28.4-0.6 29JUN2011 22.9 0.5 26.1-0.1 27.4-0.2 28.6-0.4 06JUL2011 22.2 0.2 25.8-0.2 27.1-0.4 28.5-0.5 13JUL2011 21.9 0.1 25.7-0.1 27.1-0.3 28.5-0.4 02JUN2021 23.2-0.4 26.6-0.2 27.6-0.2 28.8-0.2 09JUN2021 23.2-0.0 26.7-0.0 27.8-0.0 28.9-0.1 16JUN2021 23.3 0.4 26.0-0.5 27.2-0.5 28.8-0.2 23JUN2021 22.9 0.2 26.3-0.0 27.6-0.0 29.0 0.0 30JUN2021 22.6 0.3 26.2 0.0 27.5-0.1 28.8-0.1 07JUL2021 22.2 0.1 26.0-0.0 27.4-0.0 28.9-0.1 14JUL2021 22.2 0.4 25.9 0.1 27.2-0.1 28.6-0.4