El Niño is a weather pattern that occurs in
the Pacific Ocean
. During this time, unusual winds cause warm surface water from the equator to move east, toward Central and South America. El Niño can cause more rain than usual in South and Central America and in the United States.
Where does the El Niño current occur?
El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in
the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean
. Trade winds and atmosphere are also impacted by El Niño. El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
Does El Niño happen everywhere?
El Niños occur
every three to five years
but may come as frequently as every two years or as rarely as every seven years. Typically, El Niños occur more frequently than La Niñas.
Where does El Niño occur and what areas can it effect?
El Niño is a phenomenon that occurs when unusually
warm ocean water piles up along the equatorial west coast of South America
. When this phenomenon develops, it affects weather patterns around the globe, including the winter weather along the west coast of North America.
What areas are affected by El Niño?
A warming of the central to eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, El Niño 2015-2016 is affecting more than 60 million people, particularly in
eastern and southern Africa, the Horn of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Asia-Pacific region
.
Is 2020 an El Niño or La Niña year?
But forecasters at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center have issued a La Niña Watch, which means they see La Niña likely emerging (~55%) during the September-November period and lasting through winter. June 2021 sea surface temperature departure from the 1991-2020 average. Image from Data Snapshots on Climate.gov.
Is La Niña warm or cold?
During a La Niña year,
winter temperatures are warmer than normal in the South
and cooler than normal in the North. La Niña can also lead to a more severe hurricane season. La Niña causes the jet stream to move northward and to weaken over the eastern Pacific.
Is El Niño good or bad?
If El Niño has a strong presence, or makes Pacific waters warmer than usual, it increases the amount of “wind shear” across the the Atlantic basin. Wind shear is
bad for hurricanes
, and tropical storm production. It disrupts necessary conditions for tropical storms to form.
How is El Niño detected?
In the tropical Pacific Ocean, El Niño is detected by many methods, including satellites,
moored buoys, drifting buoys, sea level analysis, and expendable buoys
.
What does El Niño cause?
During an El Niño event, the surface of the tropical Pacific Ocean gets warmer than usual, particularly at the equator and along the coasts of South and Central America. Warm oceans lead to low pressure systems in the atmosphere above, which in turn leads to a lot of
rain
for the western coasts of the Americas.
How does El Niño affect us?
Generally speaking El Niño brings:
cooler and wetter weather to the southern United States
.
warmer weather to western Canada
and southern Alaska. drier weather to the Pacific Northwest.
What is a positive effect of El Niño?
On the other hand, in the United States, El Niño typically
brings wet weather to California
(benefiting lime, almond, and avocado crops, among others), warmer winters in the Northeast, increased rainfall in the South, diminished tornado activity in the Midwest, and a decrease in the number of hurricanes that hit the …
Does El Niño cause drought?
One such phenomenon is the periodic occurrence of El Niño. During El Niño episodes the normal patterns of tropical precipitation and atmospheric circulation are disrupted, hence triggering extreme climate events around the globe:
droughts
, floods and affecting the intensity and frequency of hurricanes.
What are two effects of El Nino?
(i) The presence of the EL-Nino leads to an increase in sea-surface temperatures. (ii)
It weakens the trade winds in the regions and causes heavy rainfall, floods or droughts in different regions of the world
.
Who is the most affected by El Nino?
The worst-affected regions are parts of
southern Africa, the Sahel, western Africa, Australia, western United States and parts of South America
, as the map below shows. In El Niño years, 10 per cent of the globe sees higher than normal damages, while 19 per cent sees lower than normal.
What is the difference between El Nino and La Niña?
El Niño events are associated with a warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific, while
La Niña events are the reverse
, with a sustained cooling of these same areas. These changes in the Pacific Ocean and its overlying atmosphere occur in a cycle known as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
