05/09/2024

El Niño is Departing a Record-breaking Year of Heat

Weather forecasters say it's waning

The climate pattern known as El Niño is heading for the exit, after a year when it helped drive global temperatures to new records. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say conditions will likely switch to a La Niña pattern by the end of the summer.

El Niño is marked by warmer than normal ocean temperatures in the Eastern Pacific, where large amounts of heat are released to the atmosphere. It's why El Niño years are typically hotter than average. Paired with the warming caused by heat-trapping gasses from burning fossil fuels, 2023 ranked as the hottest year recorded.

Scientists say it's a stark warning that the combination of climate change and El Niño could set the stage for even worse heat waves, floods and droughts in the future.

Please select this link to read the complete article from NPR.