CattleFax Offers Weather Outlook
El Niño promises to bring drought relief according to crowd-pleasing forecast.
by Troy Smith for Angus Journal®
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 5, 2014) — “It’s a fact. El Niño is coming, and that’s a good thing,” stated climate researcher Art Douglas before an audience gathered Feb. 5 for the 2014 Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Tenn. The Creighton University (Omaha, Neb.) atmospheric science professor delivered a crowd-pleasing weather forecast during the CattleFax Outlook Seminar hosted in conjunction with the annual convention.
Art Douglas predicted a warmer spring, cooler fall and more moisture in 2014 — welcome words to an audience of cattlemen gathered in Nashville, Tenn., in early February.
Douglas said the periodic warming of South Pacific ocean water, known as El Niño, promises to bring relief from drought that has plagued large portions of the United States. He said most forecasting models indicate that even the severe drought in California is likely to subside, with moisture reaching near-normal levels by March.
Douglas predicted above-average temperatures across much of the United States during late winter and spring. Precipitation should increase from Texas northward through the Plains. Above-average spring moisture in the Midwest may delay planting in the western Corn Belt, but summer should bring nearly ideal weather for growing crops.
Higher-than-normal temperatures are expected to moderate, starting in July, as El Niño gains strength. The forecast calls for the southwestern monsoon season to start earlier than normal, followed by a dry late-summer and fall period. Cooler water in the Atlantic should suppress hurricane activity.
Explaining that El Niño has far-reaching impacts, Douglas said drought conditions in Argentina should improve, while a wet Brazil turns drier. Typically, he said, El Niño brings drought to Australia. Wetter conditions from February through May are predicted for Asia, followed by drought from June through September.
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