La Nina Means Warmer, Rainy Winter in College Park

It's been an interesting week in College Park recently and it is not because of any breaking news.

Instead, it is due to the weather. The sudden changes in temperature from day-to-day and even stark changes within a 24-hour period have left people walking around in winter coats and rain boots, when there's a feeling of spring in the air.

Maryland's weather is normally pretty crazy," Andrea Rumbaugh, 21, of College Park said Tuesday. "I think it has to do with global warming."

Nineteen-year-old Selam Tesfamariam, of College Park, agreed. "Last winter it snowed a lot, in February there was a blizzard for two weeks."

But, Stephen Konarik, a meteorologist with NOAA, said that the unseasonal weather is actually attributed to La Nina, or when there's low pressure in the northern region.

“A La Nina winter means that the water over the Pacific is below normal temperatures," Konarik said. "This is one of the influencing factors this winter.”

This is one of the warmer winters on record, he said, and it’s wetter than average.

But during the last La Nina winter in 1995, the East Coast had one of the strongest blizzards on record.

“There are no statistical trends in the amount of snow in La Nina years," Konarik added, but said that the amount of snow is below average.

On Monday, the National Weather Service released its report on the first half of the winter which ended on Jan. 15.

According to the report, the average temperature at Reagan National Airport has been 43.5 degrees F— making this 7th warmest winter on record.

For Sunny Aqualam, of Salibury, this is the kind of winter he likes.

"It's just like a summer in Europe," Aqualam said. "I don't like snow."

For the full forecast for the week, visit NOAA's website.