Why You Can't Blame El Niño for Extreme Weather (Yet)

Over the past several months, there has been a lot of hype about an upcoming El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which would upend global weather patterns in ways that might squelch the California drought and lead to a record warm year worldwide

El Niño conditions are characterized by above average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, as well as changes in the trade winds that typically blow from east to west across the tropical Pacific. In addition, there are changes to where towering thunderstorms form across the tropics, with a shift in heavy rains away from the western Pacific. Read more...