El Niño, a natural climate phenomenon characterized by above-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator, has officially begun, according to scientists at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, a U.S. National Weather Service division.
In their monthly outlook released today, they noted that El Niño conditions are present and are expected to gradually strengthen through the winter.
In early May, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) had already warned climate officials to prepare for the phenomenon.
When it occurs, El Niño disrupts weather and temperatures around the globe, unpredictably increasing the likelihood of extreme events such as heat waves, floods, and droughts in different regions.
El Niño’s warmer waters push strong Pacific air currents south and east. This brings wetter weather to the Gulf of Mexico and drier conditions to tropical regions. The phenomenon also increases the frequency of flooding along the west coast of Peru and Ecuador, while decreasing the frequency of rainfall in Colombia.
For the Amazon, moderate to strong El Nino conditions during the fall and winter mean a drier, more flammable rainforest. In 2015, for example, the phenomenon doubled the period of rain scarcity in the Amazon region from four to eight months.
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