It looks increasingly likely that the Pacific Ocean cooling trend known as La Niña will continue at least through the coming winter. That’s according to the latest analysis from the Climate Prediction Center, which now says it’s up to 75 percent confident that a weak La Niña in place will persist perhaps through April.
La Niña conditions tend to produce cooler air for much of Alaska, much different than the El Niño conditions experienced during the winters of 2015 and 2016.
Sea ice is another factor that drives weather along the Southwest Alaska coast, and the latest three-month outlook from the National Weather Service suggest Bristol Bay will get its first sea ice in freshwater river deltas by the end of November.
The next three-month seasonal temperature and precipitation outlook from NWS will be issued Tuesday.