La Niña in mid-October of 2007

Collected by the U.S-French Jason altimetric satellite, the tropical Pacific Ocean remains in the grips of a cool La Niña, as shown by new data of sea-level heights from mid-October of 2007. Image source: http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov This La Niña has slowly strengthened for the past nine months which is indicated by the blue area in the center of the image along the equator. Blue indicates lower than normal sea level (cold water). Oceanographer Bill Patzert of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California said: "After eight very dry years on the Colorado River watershed and a record-breaking dry winter in Southern California in 2006-2007, the situation in the American Southwest is dangerously dry.  This La Niña could deepen the drought in the already parched Southwest and Southeast United States." Meanwhile Patzert and other scientists say La Niña contributed to the conditions that fueled Southern California’s recent deadly wildfires. ...