Weather Related Educational Links and Resources

El Nino
Created by the producers of the PBS series NOVA, this Web site is entirely devoted to this weather phenomenon. Sections of the site include "Dissecting El Nino - to "Chasing El Nino."

Making Sense of the Weather - El Nino
This explanation of El Nino and La Nino from NASA is geared to students in grades 6-12. The site features weather-related science activities.

NOAA: El Nino
Scientists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have announced that ocean surface temperatures warmed 2 degrees Celsius (4 F) in the eastern equatorial Pacific near the South American coast in February 2002. "This warming is an additional sign the Pacific Ocean is heading toward an El Nino condition," said NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher, USN (Ret.).
"It's still too early to determine the potential strength of this El Nino or exactly what weather conditions it will bring to the United States, but it is likely these warming conditions in the tropical Pacific will continue until early 2003."
El Nino conditions occur once water temperatures have warmed sufficiently enough to alter the normal patterns of cloudiness and rainfall in the tropical Pacific basin. A typical El Nino features persistent, increased precipitation along the equator near the international date line, and warmer-than-normal sea-surface temperatures (0.5 C or more above normal) extending eastward to the South American coast. El Nino episodes occur roughly every four-to-five years and can last up to 12-to-18 months. It has been nearly four years since the end of the 1997-1998 El Nino, which was followed by three years of La Nina. Typical El Nino impacts include a warmer-than-normal late fall and winter in the northern Great Plains and the upper Midwest. (For more information from NOAA)