Impact of Super El Niño on Global Weather

Just imagine if a giant natural fan that helps cool the Eastern

Pacific suddenly stopped working, and that's exactly what's happening

right now. It's called El Niño, and this one is already being called a

super El Niño. You see, this giant fan is actually made up of

steady winds known as the trade winds, which blow from east to west.

For centuries, these winds helped sailing ships cross the

Pacific Ocean.

They push warm surface water toward Indonesia and Northern Australia, where it

fuels tropical rainfall. And off the coasts of Peru

and Southern Ecuador, the water

stays cold, helping keep the coastal climate dry.

But every two to seven years, these trade winds weaken,

allowing warm water to

spread back east and bringing water temperatures here one or two degrees above

normal, and that's enough to make the weather go

crazy around the world.

It can bring warmer winters to Canada, heavier rain to the Southern United

States,

and flooding to parts of South America, while Indonesia and Australia face

drought.

In the 1870s, a powerful El Niño was one of the factors behind a

famine that took the lives of an estimated 3% of the world's population.

And now, scientists think the current El Niño could

be the strongest ever

recorded, with water temperatures in the Eastern

Pacific expected to rise more than

three degrees. As the ocean releases heat into the

atmosphere and raises global

temperatures, 2027 could become the hottest year ever

recorded.