An illustration on the front page of today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer
claims that the start/cause of the El Nino is that trade winds down
south weaken and that without the usual winds to push warm water
westward, warm water flows eastward. That changes normal patterns of
where the warm water is, where the strongest thunderstorms are, where
the high pressure ridge is, temperature and rainfall patterns etc.

According to the illustration in the newspaper, these trade winds are
shown as originating off the west coast of Central America and northern
South America.

jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca wrote:
>
> ** Reply to note from Peggi -
>
> > That's what I thought as well, Jack. But I spoke with the head researcher
> > at Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary yesterday and he confirmed what
> > JPL reported in their press release - that it has just begun to influence
> > Southern California.
>
> Sounds like your typical "viewing in isolation while the world burns around
> you" school of thought.
>
> > But I tend to believe otherwise as we've been seeing Magnificient
> > Frigatebirds a half mile out in Monterey Bay. Additionally, the Monterey
> > Bay Aquarium has had to begin cooling the water flowing into their tanks to
> > keep the exhibits healthy. They are feeding the kelp forest as well.
>
> Indeed. Floods in Chile; drought in Costa Rica. Hurricane Nora about to make
> a pass along the Baja.
>
> > The scientist claims its the offshore wind flow that's warming the water
> > and, indeed, I guess that's a factor in El Nino. But it's listed as a
> > contributing cause rather than an effect of El Nino.
>
> Hmmm. Offshore winds would lead to upwelling of colder water along the coast
> so I can't see how offshore winds would warm the water up any, even if the
> winds were very warm. Something doesn't compute here. Perhaps the reason that
> the water temperatures are (supposedly) just starting to rise off s.
> California is that there has been lots of offshore winds there.
>
> - Jack
>
>
> Jack Bowling
> Prince George, BC
> jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca

--
Jane Hadley
jhadle at halcyon.com
Seattle, WA