A record-breaking wet spring in the Wood River Valley will be followed by a dryer- and warmer-than-average winter, the National Weather Service predicts.
"The real wet conditions are supposed to end," said Weather Service meteorologist Greg Kaiser.
In a few months' time, the clouds won't be so eager to drop their wet cargo. And it's all because of one boy.
The Weather Service predicts an abnormal warming of surface water in the tropical Pacific Ocean to take place. This phase is called El Niño and is Spanish for "the boy." This change usually creates a warm, dry winter for the region, Kaiser said.
El Niño is part of an oscillating cycle between the cooler waters of La Niña, and is still a mystery, with the two switching every three to eight years.
In June, the valley received 5.29 inches of rain, three and half times more the June average precipitation of 1.52 inches and more than any other June since the Weather Service started recording precipitation in 1937. That was due to Pacific tropical storms that usually hit the West Coast and head a little north for Canada but this year fell much farther south.
"We had a lot of Oregonized systems in June," Kaiser said.
The rain didn't fall as much in July and August, with only 1.20 inches and 1.11 inches falling in the two months. But it was still higher than the July average of 0.76 inches and the August average of 0.75 inches.
Despite the unusually wet summer, temperatures were relatively normal with frequent cloud cover keeping daytime highs a few degrees cooler and nighttime lows warmer.
Trevon Milliard: trevon@mtexpress.com
Old Farmer's Almanac predicts snowy winter
The National Weather Service and Farmer's Almanac have something to fight about this winter. The Weather Service predicts a dry winter but the Almanac seees flurries of snow on the horizon. Unlike the Weather Service, the Farmer's Almanac doesn't just use current technology to predict the weather but also looks to sunspots, 30-year averages, and a secret formula for answers. Robert Thomas, the Almanac's founder, originally devised the formula in 1792. He believed that magnetic storms on the sun's surface, called sunspots, influenced Earth's weather. The Almanac sticks by its techniques, claiming that its monthly regional forecasts were 88 percent accurate last winter.
