Yes, El Nino is a global weather phenomenon. Judging by what is happening in UK, with the worst flooding in the Lakes District they have had for a while, it looks like this particular El Nino episode is a doozy (trans: humungous, I think). I'm watching to see if the monsoon in Darwin is a mirror image of what happens in India.

Now I know how Seattle got its rainy reputation. We arrived Friday and it really hasn't stopped raining since then. And rain is in the forecast for at least the next week.

Still, rain like this in December runs quite counter to my weather experience, when it should be snowing.

(I've been here a number of times over the last 30 years and the weather is often quite sunny and pleasant, though I've not been here during the rainy season).

Actually Seattle getting lots of rain would be another feature of El Nino, wouldn't it? California was drought-stricken in your last summer, and Seattle is in Oregon or Washington, isn't it, not knowing which without a map in front of me? Down in the Southern Hemisphere, I have been reading, we have the Southern Oscillation, ENSO, pivoting on Fiji in the middle of the Pacific. When it rains heavily on the Eastern side of the Pacific - Peru, Ecuador and Chile - it is dry here in Australia and Indonesia on the west side. And vice versa. I get the impression that California was affected in a similar way.

Apparently El Nino brings drier and warmer winters to this part of the country, and the 2014 El Nino probably contributed to the western drought and relatively small snowpack in the nearby Cascade Mountains last winter.

Seattle is in northwest Washington, not far from British Columbia. It has a reputation of being rainy all the time, mainly because of light rain most days in the rainy season (winter). According to wikipedia it gets measurable rain (0.01 inches/.25mm) 150 days/year, more than most US cities east of the Rockies (the majority of the country). But in my experience (and according to family who live here), the summers are actually quite clear and pleasant with little rain; most of it comes in the winter.

Apparently El Nino brings drier and warmer winters to this part of the country

Well, it's working here. After our crazy ice storm over our Thanksgiving weekend, we are now unseasonably warm. It's supposed to be in the mid-60Fs/18C, almost 70F/20C the rest of this week.
As to the drier part of El Nino, we don't usually get much snow until January and February anyways, so we'll see what happens there.

This is the 7th straight day of rain here with rain or even snow showers in the forecast as far out as it goes (Christmas Eve). This is a bit much even for Seattle, according to the news. The area has made up its extreme rainfall deficit for the year and there is widespread flooding in coastal areas in Washington State and northwest Oregon. There have been highway and school closures due to the rain. Fortunately my current location is a little higher up, though there is a lake in the backyard. Hopefully there won't be any internal flooding.

Today is a nice day. For once it isn't too hot, unlike last Monday. Yesterday a storm front passed through Sydney, including a tornado, of all things, at Kurnell, the place where Captain Cook landed in 1770, just across Botany Bay from Sydney Airport. The results were quite alarming. As if USA's Tornado Alley had moved house to Oz.

We had about two, or three inches drop around here mixed with rain. The rain left it a bit slick in many spots here-abouts. I saw some fire trucks rushing to an accident. Most of the white stuff has melted off the hard surfaces, leaving a thin carpet on the lawns. with temps dropping to the teens F by Friday I expect it to stay for awhile.
I just saw a video on the weather channel of the tornado wagga. I was honestly suprised to see someone standing so close while filming it. They can count themselves lucky they were not injured by all the debris I saw flying around.

Today it spontaneously snowed. I didn't even know we were expecting any (we probably weren't ). We didn't get any accumulation and it's going to warm right back up tomorrow, but it was kind of fun to see the first snow of the season.

I just saw a video on the weather channel of the tornado wagga. I was honestly suprised to see someone standing so close while filming it. They can count themselves lucky they were not injured by all the debris I saw flying around.

Appearances can be deceptive since a lot depends on the direction the tornado was going. We rarely have tornados quite as severe as that particular one, especially as the worst tornados tend to be offshore. Most of our tornados are called willie-willies. Kurnell is on the Botany Bay side of a spit of land between it and the Tasman Sea. There are reserves all around, including the one at the headland of Cape Solander, (Cape Banks is on the other side of the bay), a decommissioned oil refinery and a desalination plant, built during the 2007 El Nino event, which was flooded during last week's wild weather. I feel most for the buyers and sellers of one ex-house which had changed hands on the day the tornado struck. At least they came to an agreement to ensure the house gets restored.

Last Sunday (20th Dec) the heat ascended to upwards of 42C. The air-conditioning wasn't working properly, though it has been fixed since then. The heat went on to well after nightfall. And then yesterday, half-way through the day, it started to rain. And thank goodness, the weather bureau says it will rain for Christmas Day, so it will be nice and cool. Merry Christmas everyone, indeed!

Merry Christmas to you too Wagga!
We are looking at more of a brown rather than a White Christmas here. The weather station says we might get some measurable snow on Wednesday, if it sticks around without any temps staying below freezing I might get away with not having to mow the lawn.

Merry Christmas Wagga!
El Nino is going to be giving the east coast of the US record high temps for Christmas this year. Here in the middle of the US I think things will be a bit warmer, but not completely unheard of.
But right after Christmas we're expecting another winter storm. I haven't heard how severe yet, but they're talking more ice. Blegh.

There may be a white Christmas after all for Minnesota. The Twin Cities area is reporting light snow while parts of the southern part of the state, which has been snow-free of late, may get upwards of 8 inches/200mm today and tonight. Temperatures may actually remain cool enough for some of it to last to Christmas Day.

Meanwhile the cloudy damp weather continues its hold on the Pacific Northwest and may do so through the rest of the year.

Merry Christmas to all!

We've finally got our snow, though the temperatures have remained mild. We're not that far north of Seattle, 'gazer, but in the Interior, which makes all the difference. There's one spot of sun shining on the mountain down the valley, so we know the sun still exists; we're often socked in for weeks with not a sign of it.

I'll take your word on the existence of the sun, aileth. (Though the forecast does call for the return of that solar orb by New Year's Day, when I will have returned to sub-zero F temperatures in Minnesota).

It actually snowed here a few minutes Christmas morning, those big fluffy flakes that always appear in the movies.