We had El Nino followed by La Nina. So what?  Well, we had a lot more rain and snow than normal during El Nino. We had a white Christmas and several snow days that year. We don't have an accurate count of inches of rain, but we know it was more than 20 inches for the period November 1997 through March 1998. April brought very cold and wet weather, too--40 degree F. days with 17 degree windchill factor. Burr...

In contrast, La Nina cut our rainfall to just over 5 inches. It did snow on Easter, April 4, 1999, however. We measured 5 inches on the patio table.

Deer topiary covered with snow

The photos below clearly show the difference between El Nino and La Nina. The photo on the left was taken in January 1998 and the one on the right was taken in January 1999.

 Jene, the technician who works for our company, CDT, took this photo on his way to work on April 1, 1998. No joke -- he turned around and went back home.

A beautiful snowy day, January 1998

A beautiful warm sunrise, January 1999.