El Nino has arrived, and federal forecasters think this one will shatter records. What does that mean for us? Let’s find out.
On the positive side, Eric Ahasic of the National Weather Service said that El Nino is expected to give some in the Upper Midwest a break from their typically harsh winters. Minnesota is expected to see one of its warmest winters on record, Audacy station WCCO News Talk in the Twin Cities noted.
In Northern California, the impact of El Nino was already being felt this weekend, according to Audacy station KCBS Radio in the Bay Area. San Francisco Bay saw an unusual swelling tide and coastal areas were warned about flooding. KCBS Radio’s Jennifer Hodges reported that this year’s El Nino is expected to be one of the strongest since the 1950s, when records about the weather pattern were first kept.
So, what is El Nino? According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the phrase that means “little boy” in Spanish refers to warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean for several consecutive months. With this warming an east-west air flow pattern called the Walker Circulation shifts east toward South America – that’s when El Nino is declared.
“El Nino tends to be strongest during the winter months, and its global impacts are typically most significant in the northern hemisphere winter, the NOAA explained. “During a typical El Nino winter, the jet stream over the north Pacific Ocean tends to shift southward, bringing the storm track over the southern tier of the U.S. The southward shift in the storm track also leads to drier conditions over the Northern Rockies and Ohio and Tennessee valleys. For temperatures, El Nino often leads to a warmer than usual winter over the northern U.S.”
This current El Nino is emerging as a “super El Nino,” per WCCO’s report.
Apart from potentially bringing Minnesota a warmer winter, El Nino could also suppress storm and hurricane development in the Atlantic Basin while strengthening tropical development in the eastern and Pacific basins. It could also bring stormier weather to the Southern U.S., those high tides on the West Coast, changes in marine life migration and the formation of harmful algal blooms.
