La Niña, the climate pattern associated with an uptick in hurricane and tropical storm activity in the Atlantic Ocean, is back again.

The Climate Prediction Center announced Thursday that weak La Niña conditions emerged in the Pacific Ocean in September and are expected to persist through the remainder of the Atlantic hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30.

Though La Niña is often bad news for those living on the Gulf Coast and other storm-prone regions, local meteorologist Mike Efferson and LSU professor and hurricane researcher Jill Trepanier said the latest emergence is not a cause for panic. It may be too late in the season for the notorious climate pattern to bring any major impacts, they said.

"Hopefully it won't do too much to affect it at all," Trepanier said.

What is La Niña?

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