ENSO teleconnections

1. El Niño & California winter precipitation

It is well-known that during El Niño, the jet stream and extratropical storm track move southward, leading to wetness in the southern tier of the U.S., including California. We further examined the dependence of the El Niño—California precipitation relationship on timing (early versus late winter), region (northern versus southern California), and the strength of the El Niño SSTA. We also investigated one of the possible reasons why the 2015/16 strong El Niño did not bring expected precipitation to California in the late winter. More details can be found here or in our publications:

Jong, B.-T., M. Ting and R. Seager (2016): El Niño's impact on California precipitation: seasonality, regionality, and El Niño intensity. Environ. Res. Lett., 11. http://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/5/054021

Jong, B.-T., M. Ting, R. Seager, N. Henderson, and D.-E. Lee (2018): Role of equatorial Pacific SST forecast error in the late winter California precipitation forecast for the 2015/16 El Niño. J. Clim., 31, 839-852. http://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0145.1

2. Multiyear La Niña & Midwest US summer

ENSO can influence North American interannual hydroclimate variability not only in boreal winter, but also in summer. For example, previous studies have shown that maize and soybean yields over major crop-producing area of the United States were reduced in developing La Niña summers. We examined ENSO teleconnections and impacts on the central U.S. in multiyear La Niña life cycle, focusing on the summer season (June-August). We also assessed the limited skill of current climate models in simulating ENSO extratropical responses in summer. More details can be found here or in our publications:

Jong, B.-T., M. Ting, R. Seager, and W. B. Anderson (2020): ENSO teleconnections and impacts on US summertime temperature during multi-year La Niña life-cycle. J. Clim., 33, 6009-6024. http://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0701.1

Jong, B.-T., M. Ting, and R. Seager (2021): Assessing ENSO summer teleconnections, impacts, and predictability in North America. J. Clim., 34, 3629-3643. http://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0761.1