UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A notorious "bad boy" made an unexpected appearance last fall in Pennsylvania, wiping out the drought with a soggy series of slow-moving rainstorms coming out of the South, and then stocking up soil moisture across most of the state with almost daily snowstorms through the winter.

El Nino made his presence felt, according to a water resources expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, in a way that has Pennsylvania farmers optimistic about the upcoming growing season for the first time in five years. "Climatologists and global weather experts already are projecting that El Nino will come to an end by late spring," says extension associate Bryan Swistock. "But the effects of this weather pattern will insure that soil moisture in most places should be adequate, at least early in the growing season."

The El Nino phenomenon shows up every decade or so and involves the unusual movement of warm currents in the Pacific Ocean that impact weather conditions across North America. Depending on the region, El Nino may have a positive or negative influence on weather across the continent.

"There are some pretty strong relationships between the ocean currents and weather patterns in certain parts of the country," explains Swistock. "It usually results in wet weather in the Southeast and dry conditions in the Midwest. El Nino often causes violent weather in the extreme West, including floods in California from torrential rains."

The relationship between El Nino and Pennsylvania's weather is not as strong as in some other parts of the United States, Swistock concedes, but he said the phenomenon often results in more moisture in eastern parts of the state and less in the western part of the state. And that's what happened last fall and winter as storm after storm moved north along the Eastern Seaboard.

"You can make a pretty strong case that the development of El Nino basically wiped out the drought in the southeastern part of the state and resulted in dryer conditions in the western part of the state," says Swistock. "All the counties bordering Ohio have a drought watch, but they got some snow in late winter. They are not in danger of going to a drought warning anytime soon."

Because Pennsylvania has received below-average amounts of precipitation the past five years, El Nino's effects have been welcomed by those involved in agriculture. "Farmers are more optimistic about this growing season than they have been for any recent year because of snow pack and soil moisture," Swistock says. "Of course, there is no guarantee that drought won't return as El Nino's effects diminish this spring, but for now at least, the outlook for the growing season looks bright."

###

EDITORS: Bryan Swistock can be contacted at 814-863-0194 or e-mail brs@psu.edu.

Contact:

Jeff Mulhollem jjm29@psu.edu 814-863-2719 814-863-9877 fax #135