NOTE: This an older study that I conducted with students over ten years ago. I hope to update ths in the near future.
The following data table is a climatology of snowfall, all precipitation (melted snowfall water equivalent and rainfall combined) and Temperature in Lincoln during La Niña, El Niño, and Neutral (Nada Niño--my terminology) Winters.
The Winter months were divided into October 1-December 31 (OND) and January 1-March 31 (JFM). This was done to see if there is a difference in the early part of winter compared to the later half of winter.
The "30 year normals" refers to all data 1981-2010 combining La Niña, El Niño & Nada Niño events for that 30 year time period.
Snowfall & Precipitation are inches and temperature is °F.
| Snowfall | Average | Most | Least |
| El Niño-OND | 9.0 | 25.5 | 1.2 |
| El Niño-JFM | 16.0 | 26.4 | 4.8 |
| Snowfall | Average | Most | Least |
| La Niña-OND | 7.4 | 19.8 | 0.8 |
| La Niña-JFM | 18.2 | 41.0 | 5.3 |
| Snowfall | Average | Most | Least |
| Nada Niño-OND | 7.7 | 22.4 | 0.7 |
| Nada Niño –JFM | 17.8 | 48.1 | 3.9 |
| All Precipitation | Average | Most | Least |
| El Niño-OND | 4.58 | 8.17 | 0.39 |
| El Niño-JFM | 4.31 | 8.39 | 0.74 |
| All Precipitation | Average | Most | Least |
| La Niña-OND | 4.03 | 8.85 | 1.2 |
| La Niña-JFM | 2.94 | 6.83 | 0.58 |
| All Precipitation | Average | Most | Least |
| Nada Niño-OND | 3.76 | 6.95 | 1.02 |
| Nada Niño -JFM | 3.33 | 6.58 | 0.92 |
| Temperature | Average | Warmest | Coldest |
| El Niño-OND | 39.9 | 45.6 | 34.5 |
| El Niño-JFM | 31.1 | 38.6 | 26.1 |
| Temperature | Average | Warmest | Coldest |
| La Niña-OND | 41.1 | 45.8 | 34.8 |
| La Niña-JFM | 29.4 | 36.1 | 24.1 |
| Temperature | Average | Warmest | Coldest |
| Nada Niño-OND | 39.8 | 44.7 | 34.1 |
| Nada Niño–JFM | 29.7 | 36.1 | 18.9 |
1981-2010 Normals:
OND Snowfall Total= 8.7 inches
JFM Snowfall total = 16.7 inches
OND All Precipitation Total= 4.35 inches
JFM All Precipitation Total= 3.34 inches
OND Average Temperature = 39.6
JFM Average Temperature = 31.2
Cold Pacific Ocean temperatures (La Niña episodes) are -0.5 and lower
and, warm Pacific Ocean temperatures (El Niño episodes) are +0.5 and higher in the following table.
Neutral episodes (Nada Niños) are in between -0.5 and +0.5.
The following link will take you to a site giving more information
about the classification of these episodes and the full data table
Link: data source for for the above table
El Niño, La Niña And Neutral Episodes 1950-2011
| Year | JFM | Year | OND | |
| 1950 | -1.5 | 1950 | -0.9 | |
| 1951 | -0.9 | 1951 | 0.7 | |
| 1952 | 0.1 | 1952 | -0.1 | |
| 1953 | 0.4 | 1953 | 0.4 | |
| 1954 | 0.3 | 1954 | -1.1 | |
| 1955 | -0.9 | 1955 | -2.0 | |
| 1956 | -0.9 | 1956 | -0.9 | |
| 1957 | -0.1 | 1957 | 1.2 | |
| 1958 | 1.5 | 1958 | 0.2 | |
| 1959 | 0.5 | 1959 | -0.2 | |
| 1960 | -0.3 | 1960 | -0.2 | |
| 1961 | -0.2 | 1961 | -0.5 | |
| 1962 | -0.4 | 1962 | -0.7 | |
| 1963 | -0.3 | 1963 | 1.0 | |
| 1964 | 0.4 | 1964 | -1.2 | |
| 1965 | -0.4 | 1965 | 1.6 | |
| 1966 | 1.0 | 1966 | -0.3 | |
| 1967 | -0.4 | 1967 | -0.4 | |
| 1968 | -0.9 | 1968 | 0.7 | |
| 1969 | 1.0 | 1969 | 0.8 | |
| 1970 | 0.3 | 1970 | -0.9 | |
| 1971 | -1.3 | 1971 | -1.0 | |
| 1972 | -0.4 | 1972 | 2.0 | |
| 1973 | 1.2 | 1973 | -2.0 | |
| 1974 | -1.7 | 1974 | -0.9 | |
| 1975 | -0.6 | 1975 | -1.7 | |
| 1976 | -1.2 | 1976 | 0.8 | |
| 1977 | 0.5 | 1977 | 0.7 | |
| 1978 | 0.4 | 1978 | -0.2 | |
| 1979 | 0.0 | 1979 | 0.5 | |
| 1980 | 0.3 | 1980 | 0.0 | |
| 1981 | -0.5 | 1981 | -0.1 | |
| 1982 | 0.1 | 1982 | 2.2 | |
| 1983 | 2.0 | 1983 | -0.9 | |
| 1984 | -0.2 | 1984 | -0.9 | |
| 1985 | -0.8 | 1985 | -0.3 | |
| 1986 | -0.4 | 1986 | 1.1 | |
| 1987 | 1.3 | 1987 | 1.3 | |
| 1988 | 0.5 | 1988 | -1.9 | |
| 1989 | -1.5 | 1989 | -0.2 | |
| 1990 | 0.2 | 1990 | 0.3 | |
| 1991 | 0.3 | 1991 | 1.4 | |
| 1992 | 1.6 | 1992 | 0.0 | |
| 1993 | 0.4 | 1993 | 0.3 | |
| 1994 | 0.2 | 1994 | 1.2 | |
| 1995 | 0.9 | 1995 | -0.7 | |
| 1996 | -0.7 | 1996 | -0.3 | |
| 1997 | -0.3 | 1997 | 2.5 | |
| 1998 | 1.9 | 1998 | -1.3 | |
| 1999 | -1.2 | 1999 | -1.3 | |
| 2000 | -1.4 | 2000 | -0.6 | |
| 2001 | -0.5 | 2001 | -0.1 | |
| 2002 | 0.1 | 2002 | 1.5 | |
| 2003 | 0.9 | 2003 | 0.6 | |
| 2004 | 0.3 | 2004 | 0.8 | |
| 2005 | 0.5 | 2005 | -0.4 | |
| 2006 | -0.6 | 2006 | 1.1 | |
| 2007 | 0.4 | 2007 | -1.1 | |
| 2008 | -1.4 | 2008 | -0.3 | |
| 2009 | -0.7 | 2009 | 1.5 | |
| 2010 | 1.5 | 2010 | -1.4 | |
| 2011 | -1.2 | 2011 |