Scientists at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Thursday that an anticipated El Nino climate phenomenon has arrived and is causing concerns about severe weather and temperature records.
The weather phenomenon, which is characterized by higher sea surface temperatures than normal in the central and eastern Pacific Oceans close to the equator,
was most recent in 2018–19 and typically occurs every 2–7 years.
“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,” said NOAA climate scientist Michelle L’Heureux.
“Climate change can exacerbate or mitigate certain impacts related to El Nino. For example, El Nino could lead to new records for temperatures, particularly in areas that already experience above-average temperatures during El Nino,” she added.
Australia issued a warning this week that El Nino will bring hotter, drier weather to a region susceptible to destructive bushfires, while Japan indicated that a growing El Nino was partially to blame for its hottest spring on record.
El Ninos have been associated with the majority of the warmest years on record, and experts are worried that this summer and the following one may break records for both land and marine temperatures.
“Poor people are already being pushed to the breaking point by droughts, floods, and storms brought on by the burning of fossil fuels, and now they will have to deal with the supercharged temperatures of the El Nino effect,” said Mariana Paoli of the humanitarian organization Christian Humanitarian.
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