Defining the News
Graphic explaining El Niño and La Niña, opposing climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean that can significantly impact weather, wildfires, ecosystems and economies worldwide. Paris, France—El Niño, the natural weather phenomenon that contributed to 2023 being the hottest year on record, has recently subsided, paving the way for its opposing, cooling La Niña phase to begin.
This weakening warms the usually cooler central and eastern sides of the ocean, altering rainfall over the equatorial Pacific and wind patterns that change temperature and rain around the world. While it is unclear what impact climate change may be having on ENSO, it is affecting how these events play out, said Michelle L’Heureux, lead ENSO forecaster for the US NOAA weather agency.
“It gives you… a bit of a preview of what a warmer world looks like because it is giving you a temporary boost. So, we’re now at a new level we haven’t seen before,” she said.Although El Niño has been dissipating, the first four months of 2024 have continued to break heat records—unsurprisingly as the cycle typically drives up temperatures the year after it develops.
Above-normal temperatures are forecast to persist through July across the northern and southern hemispheres, with just equatorial regions anticipated to see near-to-below normal temperatures, according to WMO.Typically, after a strong El Niño as the world just experienced, La Niña soon follows.La Niña sees the eastern Pacific Ocean cool for a period of about one to three years, generating the opposite effects to El Niño on global weather.
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