El Nino could bring extreme weather and temperature records, according to US scientists. El Nino’s warming effects had not been felt since 2018–2019.
The anticipated “El Nino phenomenon” has arrived, according to a statement made on Thursday by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The Climate Prediction Center’s Michelle L’Heureux was quoted by the NOAA as saying, “Depending on its strength, El Nino can cause a range of impacts, such as increasing the risk of heavy rainfall and droughts in certain locations around the world.”
“Some effects of El Nino can be exacerbated or reduced by climate change. In areas that already experience above-average temperatures during El Nino, for instance, El Nino could result in new temperature records.
What is El Nino?
The climate pattern occurs typically every two to seven years. Spanish for “Little Boy,” the term “El Nino” describes the warm phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.
It is likely created when the trade winds blowing from east to west along the equatorial Pacific slow down or reverse due to changes in air pressure. It begins primarily because of unusually warm waters in the eastern Pacific.
The average global sea surface temperature in May was already slightly higher than any other month on record before this El Nino period started (about 0.1 Celsius, or 0.2 Fahrenheit).
El Nino last produced warming effects in 2018–2019, which were followed by a cooling period known as La Nina from 2020 until its return.
The colder counterpart to El Nino, La Nina, which is Spanish for “Little Girl,” is characterized by lower-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean close to the equator.
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia experienced its worst El Nino effects ever between the years of 2015 and 2016 when almost a third of the corals perished.
What Impact Does El Nino Have Around the World?
There is a chance that droughts in southern South America, Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa may end because El Nino frequently increases rainfall in these regions. But in other places like Australia, Indonesia, and parts of southern Asia, the climate pattern is also linked to a higher risk of droughts.
Australia issued a warning earlier this week that El Nino would bring warmer, drier days to the nation, which is already susceptible to wildfires.
Japan’s warmest spring on record has been attributed in part to the weather pattern.
According to the NOAA, El Nino has a relatively less noticeable impact on the United States during the summer but becomes more noticeable from late fall through spring.
El Nino tends to increase typhoon activity in the central and eastern Pacific, while it tends to suppress hurricane activity in the Atlantic.
