El Niño

Climatologists say that El Niño this year is the most powerful on record, exceeding the record breaker in 1997. It’s strength is measured by the water temperature in a region of the Pacific ocean west of Peru. This year it is already 5.4 degrees above normal and still increasing. In 1997, the record year, it was 5 degrees above normal. The ramifications of a strong El Niño are manifold – heavy precipitation in the west (the hope is that it will be snow in the mountains, not rain), mild temperatures in the northeast and a host of other weather phenomenon. Is this caused by carbon emissions? We don’t really know. It does seem to be cyclical but the record increase of this year’s temperature is suspect. We are not waiting for something to hit. It is already creating anomalies. Stay tuned.