El Niño, nature's chaotic climate agent, has formed in a warmed-up Pacific Ocean and is expected to grow to historic strength, meteorologists said Thursday.
El Niño is officially here, and scientists say it will be particularly strong with widespread impacts | CBC News LoadedEl Niño is officially here, and scientists say it will be particularly strong with widespread impacts El Niño, nature's chaotic climate agent, has formed in a warmed-up Pacific Ocean and is expected to grow to historic strength, meteorologists said Thursday.
The Associated PressEstimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results. This image shows the anomalous warm water stretching from South America into the central Pacific Ocean, indicative of an emerging El Niño.
Forecasts are calling for a particularly strong El Niño event this year that is likely to peak in the fall. El Niño, nature's chaotic climate agent, has formed in a warmed-up Pacific Ocean and is expected to grow to historic strength, meteorologists said Thursday. Experts said the El Niño, a natural warming cycle, should further heat a globe already warming from fossil fuel pollution and will likely turbocharge extreme weather across the planet.
Meteorologists forecast it will rival — or exceed — a record El Niño that began in 1997 and helped trigger billions of dollars in damage from heat waves, floods, droughts, tornadoes and wildfires. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officially confirmed the existence of the El Niño, which is a warming of the Pacific near the equator that affects weather patterns across the globe.
NOAA's announcement said there's a 63 per cent chance that the El Niño will get so intense this late fall and early winter that it "would rank among the largest El Niño events in the historical record going back to 1950.
"The warm, deep waters of an El Niño affect weather patterns by bringing "a lot of extra heat to the surface, fuelling a lot of extreme events for a lot of places around the world," said Clark University climate scientist Abby Frazier. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres described El Niño as an "urgent climate warning.
" "El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world," Guterres said in a video message. The weather pattern's effects vary by region. El Niño often dampens — but doesn't eliminate — Atlantic hurricane season activity, but increases it in the Pacific. So while the U.S. East and Gulf coasts may get a break, Hawaii and other islands are more in danger, Frazier said.
The drought-stricken Middle East could benefit, climate scientists said. Other places are looking at more danger. Parts of western South America — where the first El Niños were noticed decades ago — often get heavy rain and floods, along with an extra warm summer. India faces more intense heat waves, while drought, wildfires and heat threaten Australia.
Northeastern Africa is likely going to get weather whiplash from intense drought to dangerously heavy rains, said Columbia University climate scientist and El Niño expert Muhammad Azhar Ehsan. WATCH | A 'super' El Niño isn't all bad news for Atlantic Canada:You may have heard about a 'super' El Niño that could make 2027 the warmest year on record for the planet. But as the Atlantic hurricane season begins, there's a bit of good news for people living in the region.
CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon explains. In the U.S., El Niños can cause more intense storms with heavier rainfall in the south, but they also tend to generally benefit the U.S. agriculture industry, said Jon Gottschalck, operational branch chief at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. The northern Rockies and Southwest — where there's an "off the charts" snow drought — could get some strong summer rains, Gottschalck said.
The biggest effect in the U.S. is often in the winter, when the south can get wetter and the Pacific Northwest warmer and drier. Usually El Niños form in the summer, peak in the late fall or early winter and peter out the next spring, scientists said.
However, Ehsan's team forecasts that this El Niño will peak a month or two earlier based on strong early signs from recent weeks. Princeton University climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi said large El Niños like these also tend to last longer.
The early indications — including warmer water pushing toward the surface of the Pacific — have been so strong and noticeable that forecasters have all been predicting the same ultra strong El Niño, Vecchi said, adding that El Niño forecasts often are all over the place at this time of year. Scientists predict stronger El Niños as the world warms from the burning of coal, oil and gas, Frazier and others said.
But she said it is too early to say if this El Niño is part of that.
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El Nino is here and scientists fear it'll be big, bad and costly with heat, floods, droughts, firesWASHINGTON (AP) — El Nino, Nature's chaotic climate agent, has formed in a warmed-up Pacific Ocean and is expected to grow to historic strength, meteorologists announced Thursday.
Read more »
El Nino is here and scientists fear it'll be big, bad and costly with heat, floods, droughts, firesWASHINGTON (AP) — El Nino, Nature's chaotic climate agent, has formed in a warmed-up Pacific Ocean and is expected to grow to historic strength, meteorologists announced Thursday.
Read more »
El Nino is here and scientists fear it'll be big, bad and costly with heat, floods, droughts, firesEl Nino, Nature’s chaotic climate agent, has formed in a warmed-up Pacific Ocean and is expected to grow to historic strength, meteorologists announced Thursday.
Read more »