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Table of Contents

1. Introduction 

2. Global Temperatures

        a. Surface temperature 

        b. Troposphere

        c. Lower stratosphere 

3. The 1998-2000 Pacific cold episode (La Niņa)

        a. Overview  

        b. Precipitation Impacts

        c. SSTs and sub-surface ocean structure

        d. Tropical Convection

        e. Atmospheric circulation

                1) Pacific basin

                2) Zonally symmetric streamfunction pattern

4. Regional climate highlights

        a. North America  

                1) Heavy wintertime precipitation in the Pacific Northwest

                2) The 1999 North Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane seasons

                3) The July–September 1999 southwestern United States summer monsoon

                4) Drought in the United States

        b. Africa 

                1) The 1998–99 southern Africa Rainy Season

                2) June–September 1999: Western Africa Rainy Season

        c. Asia

                1) Indian Summer Monsoon

                2) Central China Rainfall

        d. South America

        e. Storminess across central Europe

                1) Excessive January–February snow

                2) December wind storms

        f. Precipitation extremes in Australia

                1) Northern and northwestern Australia

                2) Southeastern Australia

5. Trace gases

        a. Ozone

                1) Continental United States and Hawaii 

                2) Southern Hemisphere 

        b. Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases

                1) Carbon dioxide 

                2) Methane

                3) Carbon Monoxide

        c. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

6. Seasonal summaries

Appendix: Contributors 

Acknowledgment 

References