NOAA ENSO Blog: The Rise of El Niño and La Niña This post first appeared on the climate.gov ENSO blog and was written by Michelle L’Heureux We often get asked how El Niño or La Niña events form and increase in strength. The key is in the ocean-atmosphere coupling across the tropical Pacific Ocean. Without it, ENSO would not exist, and it would be considerably more difficult to predict climate impacts seasons in advance. […] Weather WeatherBrains | October 30, 2020 1 Comment
NOAA: Do You Know That El Niño Has a Little Brother? This post first appeared on the climate.gov website and was written by Sang-Ki Lee This is a guest post by Dr. Sang-Ki Lee, a physical oceanographer at the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, Florida. His research focuses on the interactions between the atmosphere and ocean, and how these interactions impact extreme weather and global climate. Do you […] Weather WeatherBrains | September 1, 2020 0 Comments
NOAA Enso Blog: Can Volcanic Eruptions Cause El Niño? This post first appeared on the climate.gov ENSO blog and was written by Tom Di Liberto It may seem like I randomly spun a Climate/Earth Phenomena wheel, landed on volcanoes, landed on ENSO, and then decided to do a piece connecting the two. But it makes more sense than it may seem. Volcanic eruptions have had HUGE impacts on the […] Weather WeatherBrains | June 26, 2020 0 Comments
NOAA June ENSO Update: Winter El Niño Unlikely, But Not Ruled Out This post first appeared on the climate.gov ENSO blog and was written by Emily Becker After several months of hovering above average, sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific have dropped rapidly in recent weeks. The current CPC/IRI ENSO forecast estimates about a 60% chance that ENSO-neutral conditions will remain through the summer. Chances for the fall and winter are […] Weather WeatherBrains | June 12, 2020 0 Comments
NOAA May ENSO Update: Increasing Odds of La Niña Next Winter With Low Chances for El Niño This post first appeared on the climate.gov ENSO blog and was written by Emily Becker ENSO-neutral conditions continue and are expected to remain through the fall. Let’s hit the road (virtually) and take a trip around El Niño/Southern Oscillation land! Who needs Carhenge when you have the Walker circulation? Related: THIS Is What El Nino Does To The USA: Buckle […] Weather WeatherBrains | May 16, 2020 0 Comments
April 2020 El Niño Climate Update This month’s ENSO Climate Update is provided by Climate.gov and written by Michelle L’Heureux on April 9, 2020. It’s a new month, but it seems like an entirely different world as we peer at the tropical Pacific Ocean. Sea surface temperatures remained warmer than average, but the tropical atmosphere shifted away from its El Niño-ish appearance during February. The lack of coupling between […] Weather WeatherBrains | April 9, 2020 0 Comments
NOAA March 2020 ENSO Update: Still in Neutral – Neither El Niño nor La Niña This post first appeared on the climate.gov ENSO blog and was written by Emily Becker The ocean surface in the central tropical Pacific has been warmer than the long-term average for a few months now, but overall the ocean-atmosphere system is still in neutral—neither El Niño nor La Niña. The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) forecast team estimates about a 65% […] Weather WeatherBrains | March 13, 2020 0 Comments
NOAA February 2020 ENSO Update: 60% Chance Neutral El Niño/La Niña through Spring This post first appeared on the NOAA ENSO Blog and was written by Emily Becker The tropical Pacific is warmer than average, but it doesn’t meet El Niño criteria. Forecasters estimate about a 60% chance that ENSO-neutral conditions will continue through the spring, with a 50% chance of neutral through the summer. (ENSO = El Niño/Southern Oscillation, the whole ocean/atmosphere […] Weather WeatherBrains | February 15, 2020 0 Comments