Climate scientists are warning us to buckle up for a bumpy ride. An El Niño has begun. By year’s end, this periodic climate event might become the strongest El Niño on record.
An El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a recurring two- to seven-year ocean-climate pattern. On June 11, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed Earth has officially entered the El Niño phase of this cycle.
El Niño events emerge in the Eastern Pacific. Eventually, the changes in climate they spawn will affect weather globally. And the stronger an El Niño, the more costly it can be to human health, farming, buildings and our wallets.
Forecasters currently predict a 63 percent chance that, by winter, the new El Niño will prove very strong — as in a “super El Niño.”
Here are four things to know as this climate pattern takes hold.
What’s an El Niño?
An ENSO’s several-years-long cycle has three phases.
The first, known as El Niño, involves months of warmer than normal sea-surface temperatu...
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