The weather in recent weeks has gone to extremes, and Iowa State meteorology professors are as perplexed as anyone else.

Bill Gallus, assistant professor of meteorology, agrees this year has been unusual but said some of it may be due to the “La Ni¤a winter.”

“Normally in a La Ni¤a winter in Iowa like this one, it’s very cold … but this is a strange winter,” he said.

El Ni¤o is characterized by cold ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean near the equator, and La Ni¤a by warm ones, Gallus said.

“The public has just started paying attention recently,” Gallus said of El Ni¤o and La Ni¤a, “but they’ve been around since we’ve kept records.”

He said he thinks all the hype surrounding the pair is because last year’s El Ni¤o was the strongest in recorded history.

“It very definitely affects the part of the world near the ocean,” he said, adding that it affects inland areas to a lesser extent.

However, Gallus said some people take it too far.

“You can’t blame every little storm on El Ni¤o or La Ni¤a,” he said.

S. Elwynn Taylor, extension climatologist for WOI radio station and professor of meteorology, said El Ni¤o and its sister deserve the time in the limelight they are receiving.

“They are just as important as the turn of the seasons,” he said.

Taylor called this winter “unusual but not really uncommon.”

“The things that have happened this winter have happened before,” he said.

“Having the extremes of weather has not been the greatest surprise,” he said.

Gallus said he thinks these storms and the strange weather lately may be linked to global warming.

“In times of global warming, La Ni¤a and El Ni¤o seem to have far-reaching influence,” he said.

He said in the global cooling period from 1940 to 1971, their effects were limited to the tropics.

Gallus said it is very difficult to predict the weather over an extended time period, but Iowans may see it get a little warmer and drier in the near future.

Taylor also said he does not believe that Ames will be receiving a significant amount of snow in the next few months, and he is unsure as to when spring will arrive.

“I don’t think it’s here yet,” he said, “though it’s starting to feel like spring.”