SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Forecasters with the National Weather Service say we could face drier-than-normal weather this fall, with La Niña forming in the Pacific.
We get a La Niña pattern when the wind pushes warm water in the ocean further away from us than usual. That usually increases our chances of seeing a drought.
National Weather Service Forecaster Alex Tardy says it is possible that San Diego could experience La Niña, a drought, or both, but it's not guaranteed.
But the combination of dry weather and this summer's record-setting heat could make us more vulnerable to wildfires than we've been for years.
"The official forecast is for a late start, a delayed start to the rainy season. That compounds," said Tardy. "What that does is [it] extends the wildfire season into the late fall and early winter. We don't like that."
San Diego will probably be hotter and drier than usual for the next few months.
But Tardy says it's important to consider long-range forecasts as guidelines and stay up to date because the weather can always change, and it's hard to predict severe weather more than a couple of weeks in advance.
"Floods are not predictable more than two weeks in advance. Wildfires sometimes aren't predictable, sometimes within a day," said Tardy. "We live in a climate that's susceptible to large wildfires, Santa Ana winds. We're susceptible to going into drought, which, fortunately, we're not in now. In the same breath, we're also susceptible to catastrophic flooding like we saw on Jan. 22."
The National Weather Service says it's a good idea to stay prepared for wildfires and floods because either is possible.
