Call it what you like—triple-dip, three-peat, three-bean salad—we are facing the third La Niña winter in a row.
Observing & Predicting
Fifth-warmest September on record; heatwave brought record temperatures to the West.
It's October. So in addition to talk of ghouls and goblins, we must chat about the October 2022 climate outlook. The outlook favors a hotter-than-average month for the western and central United States, and a colder- and wetter-than-average month for the Mid-Atlantic.
August 2022 drew to a close the third-warmest summer on record for the contiguous United States.
It's all but a done deal: odds of La Niña this winter are higher than 90 percent. Plus a reminder list of why we care so much about La Niña.
The September 2022 climate outlook favors a warmer-than-average month for most of the contiguous United States along with a dry/wet split between the northern and southern tiers of the U.S.
Global surface temperature was among the 6 warmest years on record, despite a "double-dip" La Niña event that chilled the Pacific much of the year.
Earth had its sixth-warmest July on record, with extreme dryness over Europe, the U.S. West, western Australia, and central South America, and extreme wetness over eastern Australia, east-central Africa, and parts of the Middle East.
The tropical Pacific appears to be hopelessly devoted to La Niña for at least the early part of winter.
On average, July is the United States hottest month of the year. But where did this July fall in the historical record? See highlights from the monthly U.S. summary from NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.