EFFECTS OF EL NI-O ON DENVER AND LOS ANGELES This research examines the effects of the El Ni得 weather pattern on the Denver Metropolitan Area and the Los Angeles Basin. The focus of this research is limited to the effects of the 1982-1983 El Ni得 on temperatures and precipitation in the two areas.
El Ni得 is a name given to the periodic oscillation of water temperatures in the southern Pacific ocean (Aceitune, 1992, pp. 483-485). This phenomenon is also referred to as the Southern Oscillation, and by an acronym (ENSO) based upon a combination of the other two terms.
The El Ni得 phenomenon is characterized by a warming of the waters in the Pacific ocean (Kerr, 1993, pp. 656-657). The greater the amount of warning of the Pacific waters that occurs, the more severe are the atmospheric effects. The 1982-1983 El Ni得 was the most severe ENSO to occur over the past four decades.
The typical El Ni得 begins in the late summer or early fall, and the atmospheric effects stemming from the El Ni得 typically begin in the following late winter or early spring (Kerr, 1993, pp. 656-657). The 1982-1983 El Ni得 was unusually in that the ENSO began in April of 1982. As a consequence, the atmospheric effects stemming from the El Ni得 began in the fall of 1982 rather than in the first-half of calendar year 1983.
The direct atmospheric effects of an El Ni得 extend for a period of six months to a year subsequent to the beginning of such effects (Kerr, 1993, pp. 656-657). The di
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