La Nina Strengthens, Likely Bringing Hotter, Drier Summer

(Ames, IA) — The climate-driving weather system known as La Nina may be sticking around still longer, impacting how Iowa’s weather evolves well past summer. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says the experts had expected La Nina to fade this spring. Instead, it’s “strengthened in certain ways.” Todey says the forecasting models for the next several months show a tendency toward above-normal temperatures and a lack of rain. A La Nina event occurs when Pacific Ocean surface temperatures cool, and it influences weather across North America.