El Niño, last appearing in 2006, returned this June, scientists at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the World Meteorological Organization recewntly announced. This week Hurricane Jimena threatens the Baja California Peninsula, where a hurricane warning and watch has been issued. The storm is already a Category 4 hurricane, according to Weather Underground. The Associated Press reported that 10,000 families are to be evacuated from potential flood zones.
El Niño is a weather phenomenon where ocean temperatures rise in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean and influence global weather. El Niño occurs every two to five years, lasting approximately 12 months, according to NOAA. La Niña is the opposite phenomenon, resulting from a drop in ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. La Niña likewise disturbs normal tropical weather conditions and affects weather globally.
NOAA expects El Niño to strengthen and last through the 2009-2010 winter in the Northern Hemisphere. El Niño has the ability to hinder hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean by increasing the vertical wind shear over the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean, according to NOAA’s National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center.
In May 2009, Pragmaticstatistic blog contemplated whether the plastic soup” stretching from California to Japan, affectionately known as the “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch,” is having any affect on the rise in temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. What do you think?
