Peggi wrote -

> Hi Tweets, thought this might interest you. Although El Nino hasn't reached
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> us yet, it looks like one hell of a winter coming up. I don't know how much
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> this will affect the Pacific Northwest, but I'm sure we'll get clobbered here.

This is a misconception. Although the core of warmest water is near the equator,
the effects of the current ENSO have already reached well north. Sea surface
temperatures in the Gulf of Alaska are presently about 4 or 5 Celsius degrees
above the seasonal average; and some Alaskan shelf waters are up to 10 degrees
above normal. There is no doubt now that this event will surpass that of 1982-83
in magnitude. It has already affected the food chain in the PNW with Ocean
Sunfish being seen in Queen Charlotte Sound off northern Van. I. recently, and
mackerel in abundance offshore. And yes, the cumulative effects are now starting
to affect our weather, as we shall see over the next week or so as we warm up
under an El Nino-influenced ridge of high pressure.

- Jack



Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca