Chapter 11: Extreme Climate

 

Although the climate in the city of San Fernando is very Mediterranean, and the average rainfall is about 16 inches per year, once in a while the climate can get quite extreme. In 1997-1998, San Fernando, California experienced a period of time where there were plenty of storms day in, and day out, causing an excessive amount of rainfall compared to the amount rainfall from other years. This phenomenon is called El Niño. El Niño storms usually occur at the equator, but in the year 97-98, it reached San Fernando and other surrounding cities.

Since there was a lot of rainfall, there was also a lot of flooding and damage. Some vegetation, homes, and vehicles in the area were destroyed.

So what cause El Niño storms? “The trade winds have all the warm water pushed in the Western Pacific. During an El Niño year that warm water is in the Eastern Pacific, and so the storms coming into the West Coast of the United States and then on across the southern tier of the United States can tap into some of that warm, moist air that's above that water, and that adds to the effect and the strength of these storms.”

Below I have included a video that is a little bit less than an hour long, but it is a very interesting video that explains a little bit more about El Niño storms.

 

 

 

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/jan-june98/nino_2-4.html