El Nino

Marylanders who bought sport-utility vehicles after the snow-choked winter of 1995-1996 may still be waiting for enough snow to engage the four-wheel drive.Meteorologists say they can blame La Nina for the third winter in a row of mild temperatures and trifling snowfall in Central Maryland.Temperatures at Baltimore-Washington International Airport averaged 37.6 degrees last month, almost 3 degrees above normal. December and January exceeded their norms by wider margins."In fact, you would have to go back four winters, to the winter of 1995-96, to find a [winter]

The Chicago Tribune said in an editorial Saturday:THE astonishing American job machine -- the economic equivalent of the meteorological El Nino -- continues to confound. By all rights, the U.S. economy shouldn't have created more than a quarter of a million jobs in November, any more than we should have experienced record high temperatures in December. But it did.Industrial declineThe Asian financial crisis and its double whammy of cheaper imports and evaporating export markets certainly has taken its toll on the manufacturing sector.

While the Gulf Coast sops up after Hurricane Georges' torrential rains, Central Maryland remains parched by three months of drought that federal climatologists now rank as severe to extreme.The damage goes beyond crispy lawns and a disappointing fall foliage season.Gov. Parris N. Glendening is expected to ask the U.S. Department of Agriculture to declare drought disasters in nine Maryland counties, where some farmers are facing the loss of up to 60 percent of their corn or soybean crops."In dollars, it won't be anywhere near what last year was, or what [the droughts of]

BOULDER, Colo. -- Scientists gathered here for a La Nina "summit" say they are being deluged with questions about the deadly heat and punishing drought that have been tormenting parts of the deep South and Southwest.Everyone wants to know whether the hot, dry weather can be blamed on El Nino, or its newly arrived cousin, La Nina.The answer, they say: "It depends on whom you talk to.""My own interpretation is that this is part of the natural chaos of the climate system," said Mike McPhaden, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

BOULDER, Colo. -- While Texans swelter in a killer heat wave, and many Americans ask what's going on with the weather, atmospheric scientists from 14 countries are gathered here this week in an attempt to figure out where the world's climate gyrations are headed next, and why.They couldn't agree on the cause of the persistent scorcher in Texas. But they do seem to agree on two things:First, the great El Nino event of 1997-1998, a record warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean blamed for a yearlong drumbeat of storms, droughts, fires, floods, tornadoes and epidemics around the world, is over.

The increase in temperature of the Pacific Ocean during El Nino was misstated in yesterday's editions. The rise was about 9 degrees Fahrenheit.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 7/11/98

CHICAGO -- At spring planting, grain traders trade on the weather -- the spring rain, summer drought and, this year, El Nino.Unusual weather has captivated the grain trade, launching a thousand predictions of a parched and sizzling summer, with skyrocketing grain prices. There are contradictory predictions of mild growing season and sagging prices. A lot of money will be made or lost depending on which comes true."Everybody is concerned with what might happen, because after El Nino you can get a hot, dry summer in the United States," said Victor Lespinasse of A. G. Edwards & Sons.

The spring hunting season for bearded wild turkeys opens statewide on Saturday, and thanks to El Nino, state wildlife managers say conditions are excellent for a superior hunt.The spring season is set to begin after most hens have started nesting and bearded gobblers, having completed their primary roles in the breeding season, are still on the scout."It has been an early spring and I expect the gobbling activity will be early as well," said Steven L. Bittner, forest game project manager for the Department of Natural Resources.

It was the best of winters. It was the worst of winters.For homebuilders, golf courses and general merchandise retailers, the winter of 1997-1998, among the mildest on record, was the best of times.But the mild weather left some on the losing end, as well. For anyone in the business of hawking snow shovels or heavy winter coats or the dirty work of removing snow from walkways and parking lots, it was a winter of discontent indeed.Bill Luther and his fast growing home construction outfit, Gemcraft Homes Inc., were on the winning end. The historically mild winter meant good financial times for his company and many other builders in the Baltimore-Washington region.

TAMPA, Fla. -- David Cone was no match for El Nino last night as a freakish cold spell forced him to miss a spring-training start. With fans at Legends Field wrapped in blankets, the New York Yankees thought it best to keep Cone insulated from a stiff wind and temperatures in the mid-40s."