Prepare for intense heat, drought and some flooding — it’s officially El Niño season, the National Weather Service announced Thursday.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.This El Niño event could be on par with some of the strongest documented in the past, according to models from the NWS.“There is a 63% chance that we’re looking at a very strong El Niño during the November to January time period that could rank amongst the largest El Niño events in the historical record,” Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist for the NWS in Los Angeles, said at a news conference held by the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California.“We’re already seeing those warm temperatures lining up.”El Niño is a natural climate pattern that causes warm surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
It’s associated with higher average global temperatures, so its effects exacerbate warming from climate change.The pattern is linked to fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic and more in the Pacific.In the U.S., El Niño’s influence is most obvious in the winter, as it shifts the typical flow of the jet stream, the ribbon of air that encircles the Northern Hemisphere and drives weather patterns.
The pattern typically pushes the jet stream south.In the Pacific Northwest, that creates dry, warmer-than-usual conditions in winter, which is a concern this year because much of the region is already mired in drought after receiving middling snow.In Southern states, the trend typically brings unusually wet weather in the winter, which could prime the region for flooding.El Niño can also drive powerful marine heat waves and scramble sea life, causing mass die-offs and bringing unusual tropical fish to coastal waters.Andrew Leising, a research oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, said two marine heat waves are already affecting the Pacific — o...