After a year of record-warm global temperatures due to climate change and the El Nino weather pattern, a weak La Nina pattern is expected to form before winter arrives and could last until March next year, the US National Weather Service said.
For much of the United States, a weak La Nina that is likely to develop in November will not lead to above-average or below-average winter temperatures, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last week. But temperatures across the South are expected to be above normal, while the Pacific Northwest is forecast to experience colder-than-average temperatures.
Since mid-September, the temperature in the central Pacific Ocean has cooled, 0.5 degrees Celsius lower than the average of many years, indicating that the cold phase, that is, the La Nina phase, has appeared.
For Vietnam, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said that this winter the weather will change as Vietnam is affected by La Nina. According to statistics, in strong La Nina years, winter is often very harsh, such as in 1998, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2020 and 2022.
According to the Vietnam National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, La Nina will impact Vietnam this year, but will not be as strong as the above years, although it can still make this year's winter colder and longer than the last 3 years.
As early as October, the frequency of cold air waves began to increase, including the cold air wave on October 2. It is forecasted that in November and December, the temperature will be about 0.5 degrees Celsius lower than in 2023.
Especially after warm winters in the northern provinces, this year is expected to be colder than the winters of the past 3 years.
The first severe cold spell is expected to occur in the second half of December and will be concentrated from the second half of December to January-February 2025.
Due to La Nina, Vietnam and Southeast Asia could see higher-than-normal rainfall in the coming months - Bloomberg reported.
"La Nina is predicted to occur from October to November 2024 onwards and is one of the contributing factors to the possibility of heavier than normal rainfall across several countries in the region," said the ASEAN Specialised Centre for Meteorology.
Vietnam could also see more storms than usual through April next year, potentially causing heavy rains with the risk of flooding and landslides, according to Takahisa Nishikawa, chief forecaster at The Weather Company.
