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SCIENCEMonday 22 February 2016
El Nino weakens a tad, but U.S. won’t feel that for months
SETH BORENSTEIN These images provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate gion and Pacific Northwest
AP Science Writer Prediction Center shows the three-month outlook for outlook temperature probability, left, and the are forecast to be dry.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Me- three-month outlook for precipitation probability. It also predicts warmer
teorologists see signs that than usual weather along
the super El Nino is weak- Associated Press the entire West Coast and
ening ever so slightly, but most of the country north
they caution months will University of Oklahoma me- Mike Halpert, deputy direc- significant rainfall. of Colorado, Missouri and
pass before people in the teorology professor Jason tor of the climate predic- With El Nino still kicking, Tennessee, with only Texas,
Americas will feel it. Furtado. “It’s still there; it’s tion center, said this El Nino NOAA forecast a spring parts of Oklahoma and
The World Meteorological not like we don’t have El hasn’t brought drought- that’s wetter than normal New Mexico cooler than
Organization said Thursday Nino anymore. We can still struck California as much throughout the U.S. South, normal.
that El Nino has passed its expect (El Nino) like condi- moisture as previous strong much of the West and part The International Research
peak based on specific tions in March and April and El Ninos, but there are still of the East. Institute at Columbia Uni-
temperature, wind, and even into May, as well.” two months to go to get Only the Great Lakes re- versity forecast that once
atmospheric pressure con- this El Nino fades, there’s
ditions. a 50 percent chance it
That’s technically true, but will be followed directly
Michelle L’Heureux, lead by El Nino’s flip side, a La
El Nino forecaster for the Nina. La Nina often means
National Oceanic and At- droughts in parts of the U.S.
mospheric Administration’s Great Plains and Southwest
Climate Prediction Center, with more rain in the North-
said there’s a few months west. La Ninas often mean
lag time before the chang- warmer winters in the U.S.
es affect the Americas. Southeast and cooler win-
El Nino is the occasional ters in the Northwest.q
but natural warming of
the central tropical Pacific Record number of astronaut wannabes apply to NASA _ 18,300
which, along with changes
in the atmosphere, alters MARCIA DUNN In this Sunday, March 1, 2015 image made from video provided NASA expects it will take
weather patterns world- AP Aerospace Writer by NASA, astronaut Terry Virts installs an antenna and boom dur- 1½ years to whittle down
wide. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. ing a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. the list. Candidates need
It often brings more rain to (AP) — Space travel never to be U.S. citizens with a
California and parts of the looked so good. Associated Press bachelor’s degree in sci-
U.S. West and South, raises NASA announced Friday ence, math or engineer-
temperatures globally a it received a record num- ing.
bit, and causes droughts ber of applicants — some
elsewhere in the world. 18,300 — for its next as- Like the eight-member
In December and Janu- tronaut class. That’s more Class of 2013, the future
ary, El Nino measurements than double the previous astronauts will train to fly
showed it tied 1997-1998 record of 8,000 for the first to the International Space
for the strongest since re- space shuttle astronaut Station on capsules under
cords started being kept in class in 1978. This time, development by SpaceX
1950. NASA hit social media hard and Boeing, as well as on
“It’s still strong, but it has to promote the openings. NASA’s Orion spacecraft
reached a peak value and The odds of getting picked intended for deep-space
it’s starting its decline,” said are small; only eight to 14 exploration. NASA aims to
Americans will be chosen. send astronauts to Mars in
the 2030s.q
