La Nina conditions forecast for winter of 2017–2018

The U.S. National Weather Service announced this week that weak La Nina conditions are forecast (with a 65 to 75 percent chance) for the Northern Hemisphere for the winter of 2017–2018.

This usually means that the southern U.S. will see warmer temperatures, and lower levels of precipitation, while the northern U.S. will see the opposite — cooler temperatures and higher rainfall. This forecast, however, depends on tracking the equatorial ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, and can always be bollixed…