Cedar Park, Texas

... Today is winter weather awareness day in Texas...

The million dollar question this season is how will El Nino
effect this winter across south central texas?

We are officially in an El Nino pattern which is supposed to last
through this winter season. El Nino is a pattern of warmer than
normal ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific near the Equator.
Over the past several years the water temperatures in the tropical
Pacific have been cooler than normal... called La Nina... which
helped to dry the area and bring US a terrible drought across south
central Texas for the past 2 years.

Looking back at past El Nino Winters... we can see that south central
Texas averages near 30 percent more rain during the winter months.
This is good news as we try to fill the area lakes... rivers... and
aquifers from their record low measurements. Do we know when all the
rain will come. No we dont... we can only wait and see... and hope
that it doesnt come all at once.

Because of the increased rain... climatologists are calling for
slightly cooler temperatures. This is usually brought on by the
increased cloudiness and rainfall. So then the question comes
up... if its supposed to be cooler and wetter... does that mean a
higher likelihood of snow.

Looking back at some of the historic snowfalls in the past 50
years... kids will be disappointed to find out that the El Nino
docent guarantee snow for the area. One of the most well known and
remembered events was the snowfall in 1985... which was during a La
Nina cycle. It snowed 3.6 inches in Austin on January 12-13 1985.
That was nothing compared to what San Antonio experienced... 13.5
inches... bringing the city of San Antonio to a standstill as the
snow took several days to melt away.

So regardless of the El Nino or La Nina season... .the winter season
will always bring a small chance for winter type precipitation.
Statements later today will focus on the different types of winter
events and how to stay prepared in case they do hit south central
Texas.