noun

• A cooling of the water in the equatorial Pacific, which occurs at irregular intervals, and is associated with widespread changes in weather patterns complementary to those of El Niño, but less extensive and damaging in their effects.

  ‘By early July, meteorologists were seeing signals that La Niña - the climate pattern that usually spells drought in the southern U.S. - was abating.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Find out about the phenomenon behind La Niña, the extensive cooling of the central and eastern Pacific.’
  • ‘The weather pattern called La Niña - which refers to cooling sea temperatures in the eastern equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean - is partly responsible for the hot, dry winter that created the current situation.’
  • ‘As El Niño rebounded into La Niña, well above average rains soaked large areas month after month.’
  • ‘There is no particular relationship with El Niño or La Niña, though the tendency for less precipitation in El Niño years usually leads to a poor season.’
  • ‘El Niño, La Niña, ENSO, Southern Oscillation and Southern Oscillation Index are all related to this topic.’
  • ‘Despite the presence of La Niña, the winter and spring months of 1938 were extremely dry; southern Victoria, in fact, had its driest ever July-December period.’
  • ‘In effect it is similar to that of the tropical El Niño and La Niña but being further north it is often swamped by the seasons.’
  • ‘With the present pattern in control, it seems a very mild La Niña has developed in the South Pacific, there is the prospect of more rain to come.’
  • ‘Similar to El Niño and La Niña, the oscillation affects precipitation patterns in wide areas of the continental U.S.’
  • ‘El Niño results in drier and hotter conditions in our summer crop growing agricultural areas while La Niña is characterised by wetter and cooler weather.’
  • ‘But as for the long-term outlook, La Niña is still out there.’
  • ‘The solar cycle is now heading down towards its expected solar minimum around 2006, while the current El Niño is expected to wane in the next few months, possibly being replaced by its cooling counterpart, La Niña.’
  • ‘Then came the awareness of El Niño and La Niña and the forecast window increased to as much as 6 to 9 months, depending on the region and season.’