By: Daerra Stull
As we all know, Christmas in West Virginia has been like no other this year. We are used to heavy amounts of snow and usually slick and untraveled roads. This year the El Nino took our weather to a different level. The El Nino is a recurring weather pattern that happens every year and alters climatic change in weather; it is the warming of the eastern tropical Pacific resulting in unusually warm weather in late December. The western and mid-west regions of the United States are currently being hammered by blizzards, flooding, and tornadoes. However, the Eastern regions are experiencing dry to mild weather patterns. As of now, we should be bundled up wearing scarves and mittens, but instead, we are wearing shorts and T-shirts. West Virginia seemed to get hit pretty hard in some areas from the rain patterns moving from the west to the east areas of the country. On Christmas day, we experienced inches of rain within a short period of time causing flooding. Needless to say, we should expect the unexpected when El Nino weighs in.
