Pacific Ocean waters hold key to snow year

By scott miller

EAGLE COUNTY — Long-range weather prediction is still an inexact science based on both current patterns and history. Those predictions get more tricky when historical anomalies enter the mix. That’s the case for the coming fall and winter.Meteorologists have long known about El Nino patterns in the Pacific Ocean west of Ecuador. An El Nino pattern will develop every few years. When it does, it affects weather over much of North America. This year’s El Nino is shaping up to be a big one — the biggest ever measured, in fact, with temperatures more than 2 degrees Celsius above average.According …

Source:: Vail Daily Feed