AUGUSTA, Ga. - La Niña is back. La Niña generally means dry weather, and that’s exactly what Georgia-Carolina residents don't want to hear after two years of drought.

Our last La Niña episode occurred just last winter and spring, and the most recent episode began developing during the fall after a brief summer break. It’s not very common to have two La Niña episodes back to back, so this one can be referred to as “a double dip.”

La Niña is the term used to refer to an oscillation in the Pacific Ocean when equatorial Pacific waters, especially in the central and eastern Pacific, are much cooler than normal. La Niña is part of a larger cycle known as El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO.

As you can see in the image below, water temperatures are currently below average through much of the equatorial Pacific.

In 1998, a strong winter El Niño (warm waters in the Pacific) quickly reversed into a La Niña episode by summer, and the La Niña continued uninterrupted all the way through the first part of 2001, which led to a horrible four-year drought in the Augusta area. Typical precipitation impacts of La Niña’s for the next three months are shown in the image below:

With an Augusta rainfall deficit already approaching 2 inches so far in 2009, hopefully, this La Niña will be short in duration and won't have a huge negative impact on this year’s rainfall. But, as of now, parts of the Southeast need to brace for another dry spring and maybe even a dry summer, which could be quite hot, as well.

One potential benefit, if La Niña continues well into the summer, is that it creates more favorable conditions for Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes to develop, which could help to make up our rainfall deficit during the upcoming summer and fall. However, tropical systems were not much of a help to our area last summer.