Increased Odds Of Super El Nino Could Mean Very Bad Hurricane Year
Not that this is anywhere near as important as Trump's Versailles ballroom, but it seems like we will pay this year for decades of thumbing our nose at climate change. Because while climate change doesn't cause El Ninos, it can make them much worse.
One of the most powerful El Niño events in a hundred years could form in the coming months, according to scientists, raising concerns about global temperatures, hurricanes, drought conditions and other extremes this year. For several months, forecasters have been predicting a possible “super El Niño” that could emerge and persist through the end of 2026, and now the odds are increasing.
An El Niño event means warmer-than-usual sea surface temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean. This pattern usually boosts global temperatures and can influence weather conditions around the world. El Niño events typically exacerbate background warming from human-caused climate change, increasing the likelihood of hotter-than-normal global temperatures.
The European center’s latest prediction shows that sea surface temperatures in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean could be as high as 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above average by the fall. If so, that would make this El Niño event one of the most powerful on record and could qualify it as a “super El Niño.”