SEASONAL US TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION ANOMALIES ASSOCIATED WITH EL-NINO - HISTORICAL RESULTS AND COMPARISON WITH 1997-98

Extreme weather occurred in many parts of the United States during the 1997-98 El Nino. We compare the 1997-98 autumn, winter, and spring te mperature and precipitation anomalies with the historical El Nino peri od anomalies. About 90% of the contiguous U.S, has one or more statist ically significant historical weather associations with El Nino. The 1 997-98 wet anomalies and the autumn and winter temperature anomalies r esemble their historical counterparts. Taken together, about 80% of th e U.S, experienced extreme seasonal anomalies during 1997-98; 20% of t he U.S. experienced 50-year-record winter temperature anomalies. Howev er, these percentages are not remarkable.