Archives for June 2016

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El Nino, a temperature anomaly in the Pacific Ocean that can cause unusual weather patterns around the world, is back.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology announced today that El Nino thresholds have been reached in the tropical Pacific from the first time since March 2010.

El Nino is the name given to unusually warm temperatures in the equatorial Pacific that can cause changes to wind, rainfall and temperature patterns in other parts of the globe. For example, in Canada, an El Nino that lasts through the winter months generally leads to warmer winters from British Columbia to central Quebec and drier conditions inland.

El Nino, La Nina and weather woes
Extreme El Nino weather to double in frequency, study says

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology isn’t the only organization confirming the arrival of El Nino — the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had announced El Nino’s arrival back in March, but said it was weak and unlikely to have major effects on weather patterns. An update in April said El Nino had strengthened slightly over the course of March.

As of early May, “it’s getting close to what we would term moderate,” said Mike Halpert, deputy director for NOAA’s climate prediction centre, in an interview with CBC News. He added that the two organizations have slightly different thresholds for El Nino — Australia’s is 0.3 degrees higher.

El Nino typically leads to heavy rainfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast and western North America. But NOAA said this year’s El Nino is likely too late and too weak to ease the drought in California.

NOAA predicted a 70 per cent chance that El Nino conditions would last through summer and a 60 per cent chance they’d continue through fall. It is set to give another update Thursday.