Daryl Hannah (@dhlovelife.bsky.social)

El Niño Has Arrived. Here's What You Need to Know The powerful shifts in Pacific winds and water temperatures frequently push global temperatures to record-breaking levels. They can also transform global weather patterns, increasing the likelihood of severe droughts in places like Australia and Southeast Asia and heavy floods in parts of the US and East Africa. — By Martina Igini El Niño has developed in the tropical Pacific and it is predicted to intensify to a “moderate or strong level” this fall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Thursday. The US agency declares an El Niño when temperatures in the equatorial Pacific are 0.5C above average for several consecutive months, according to its press release. If sea surface temperatures in the Nino-monitored region of the Pacific exceed 2C, then the event is considered “very strong.” Currently, NOAA predicts a 63% chance of that happening. The global climatic phenomenon, which occurs every two to seven years on average, is associated with the warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. When this happens, the east-to-west trade winds die, keeping warmer than the normal air in the eastern and central parts of the tropical Pacific, which temporarily raises global average temperatures. When combined... https://earth.org/el-nino-has-arrived-heres-what-you-need-to-know/