?EUR??,,????'??In mid-January the atmosphere over the eastern North Pacific and western U.S. began to exhibit typical La Ni?????a characteristics in response to the cooling in the tropical central Pacific Ocean,?EUR??,,????'?? said Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. ?EUR??,,????'??This pattern will favor continued drought in parts of the South and Southwest from Arizona to Arkansas and Louisiana, and above normal precipitation in the Northwest and the Tennessee Valley area.?EUR??,,????'?? Periodic precipitation in the drought areas and dryness in the stormy areas also are typical within the larger scale climate pattern described above.

Internationally, La Ni?????a impacts during the Northern Hemisphere winter typically include enhanced rainfall across Indonesia and northern Australia, as well as in the Amazon Basin and in southeastern Africa and below-average rainfall across the eastern half of the equatorial Pacific and eastern equatorial Africa.