Iowa farmers will want to take note as what’s being called a La Nina Watch is being issued by the Climate Prediction Center, which forecasts a possible cooling in the Pacific Ocean’s surface over the next six months. Doug Kluck, the regional climate service director for the National Weather Service in Kansas City, says a La Nina pattern can have impacts all across the country, sometimes bringing significant changes in weather patterns and dramatic shifts for agriculture.

Kluck says observers will have a better idea of the strength of the possible La Nina by late fall into early winter.