Heres what a La Nia winter could mean for US weather

Meteorologists are predicting a weak La Niña will likely occur this winter season, bringing warmer weather to southern states and a cooler, wetter winter to the northwestern US.There is a 60 percent chance La Niña will emerge this November and stick around through January or March 2025, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.The weather event can be expected to disrupt weather patterns across the US and influence how much rain and snow certain regions will see this season.

It can also mean a more severe hurricane season, the agency warned.The last time the Big Apple saw La Niña there were warm conditions and little snow, though forecasters warn anything could happen under the weather event.

La Niña, or “little girl” in Spanish, refers to the periodic cooling of the Pacific Ocean waters off the coast of South America.“La Niña means that those temperatures are cooler than average while El Niño is warmer than average.

It’s a global pattern that fluctuates from season to season,” Fox Forecast Center Meteorologist Stephanie van Oppen told The Post.The weather event tends to take place every three to five years.

Last year, the US encountered the opposite effect — an El Niño — which brought very little snow on top of warm and wet conditions to the Big Apple.Although La Niña is a naturally occurring phenomenon, the weather event can “change our weather patterns based on that section of the ocean’s temperature,” van Oppen said.

During La Niña events, the cold waters in the Pacific push the jet stream northward, oftentimes leading to drought in the southern US and heavy rains flooding the northern portion of the country and Canada.“If we were to see La Niña conditions develop this winter, the southeast could anticipate warmer than average temperatures and a drier than average winter,” van Oppen said.

“The northern tier, places like Montana, Colorado and the Midwest, could see cooler than average temperatures....