LIZZIE WELBORN // LA NIÑA 🌊 get ready for a cooler, wetter summer! 🌧️
This blog post was written by Lizzie Welborn.
For those of you on the East Coast of Australia, have you noticed that it has been a bit wetter and colder than usual? Grab your umbrella and your rain jacket, we are in La Niña! Some of you may be thinking, what the heck is a La Niña? Here is a quick geography lesson on what it is:
There are many climate systems that determine what the climate in Australia is like, one of the most influential being the El Niño Southern Oscillation system, most commonly known as ENSO. When ENSO is neutral, it means trade winds blow across the Pacific Ocean from East to West, keeping waters warm in Northern Australia and cool on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. A neutral ENSO means weather patterns in Australia stay relatively normal.
La Nina is a phase within the ENSO cycle that only happens every few years. During La Nina, the ENSO cycle pretty much goes into overdrive. The trade winds across the Pacific Ocean start blowing even harder, brining increased wind to the western Pacific Ocean. These stronger winds bring warmer water to northern Australia, causing Australia to experience a slightly different climate. The warmer waters in the north create a lot more rainfall over Australia, particularly on the East Coast. This increased rain means there are greater chances of flooding, tropical cyclones and sadly, cooler day time temperatures. The last time Australia experienced La Niña was from 2010-2012, and we are currently experiencing another La Niña right now!
For a different perspective, I asked one of my coaches Nick Carrol about what La Niña means to him. Nick is a surfing legend and all-round salty sea dog. He has seen his fair share of weather events over the years, giving him the most incredible and unique knowledge of our oceans. Nick described La Niña as the ‘little girl’ of the ENSO cycle, “The little girls brings all the warm water and wind to this side of the ocean”. “This summer we are going to experience a lot of surf action on the East Coast, if you are a surfer or in a wave-based sport, you are going to have a lot of fun” Nick said. Interestingly, Nick noted that the warmer waters travelling down the East Coast are going to bring lots of sea life with it, so we can expect to see a lot more fish this summer too (hopefully only the little ones). Unfortunately, this means we might get a lot more blue bottles too (dammit).
The salty sea dog in Nick came out as he described that the La Niña allows us to experience the time cycle the earth operates at. “We sometimes think we have the whole world figured out, but the world has its own time signature” Nick said. “The La Niña allows us to feel the pulse of the planet and how it is operating on its own course.” This left me feeling so inspired to look at the La Niña through this lens, to view it as an action or characteristic of the earth, not just a scientific explanation of a weather change. I feel like this explanation can also remind us not be upset about the wetter and cooler weather, but rather to be grateful that we get to experience the time cycle of earth.
Personally, I am definitely looking forward to a lot of fun training sessions in the La Niña surf this season. And hopefully, seeing a lot more dolphins too! 🐬
This blog post was written by Lizzie Welborn.