La Niña is over. Now what?

The May 3, 2012 report from the US Climate Prediction Center confirms that La Niña, the cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean, has weakened, and is not expected to return for the remainder of 2012. This means that rainfall and temperature patterns tend to be closer to the long term averages, with fewer dramatic fluctuations in the weather (thank goodness!)

This information is incorporated into the U.S. seasonal outlook for May – July,…