This Week In Ag #95

Fans of the animated Christmas classic “The Year Without a Santa Claus” will undoubtedly recall Heat Miser and Snow Miser, the bickering siblings who controlled weather patterns. Their outright refusal to cooperate with one another forced Mrs. Claus to go over their heads and see Mother Nature when she desperately needed snow to fall in the hot climate of South Town. But this amusing tale of sibling rivalry is rooted in some reality.

Meet the real children of Mother Nature: El Niño and La Niña. Their names are Spanish terms that mean little boy and little girl. These siblings control much of our weather. And subsequently, world food production. Farm market reports will often mention an El Niño and La Niña effect as root causes for commodity price fluctuations. As trade winds blow west across the equator, they take warm water from South America to Asia with them. To fill the void, cold water rises from the ocean depths. El Niño and La Niña are Pacific Ocean-based weather patterns, often lasting 12-18 months, that disrupt this natural cycle. During El Niño, trade winds weaken as warm water is pushed back east, toward America’s west coast. These warm waters push the Pacific jet stream south. In the US, this shift in the jet stream causes the Midwest to become drier and warmer, while the South becomes much wetter. El Niño has ties to the Christmas season. In the 1600s, South American fishermen were the first to notice periods of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean. The name they used to describe this phenomenon was El Niño de Navidad, because El Niño typically peaks around December. As is the case with many siblings, La Niña has the opposite effect of her brother. She makes trade winds blow stronger. This pushes more of the warm water west, toward Asia. These colder waters in the Pacific push the jet stream north, resulting in wet, cooler conditions in the Midwest, and even flooding in the Pacific Northwest, while making the South hotter and drier. La Niña frequently leads to a more active hurricane season. So will we see either sibling this winter?

Forecasters believe La Niña is on her way, which should mean heavier snowfall across the Plains and Midwest. This would make her a welcome sight among both school kids and farmers. Many areas of Nebraska, Iowa and the Dakotas are still reeling from drought conditions. In the northern states, snow can account for 2/3 of the annual precipitation. Melting snow replenishes subsoil moisture. And even though 10 inches of snow = 1 inch of rain, many Great Lake states can get several feet of snow annually. For crops that overwinter, such as winter wheat, a blanket of snow can insulate the crop, and often serve as mulch for the soil ecosystem. Pasture cattle will ingest much of their water from snow. Often called “poor man’s nitrogen,” atmospheric nitrogen will attach itself to falling snow, adding valuable nutrients to the field. Now as for those ornery Miser brothers, click on to these links to hear Snow Miser and Heat Miser introduce themselves. Then good luck getting those songs out of your head for the rest of the day.