In the News
Climatologists bet on El Nino, warm months ahead
The odds now strongly favor an El Nino forming in the Pacific Ocean, federal climatologists said Thursday, tilting the long-range weather outlook toward a warm 2018-19 winter in the Northwest. Nick Bond is quoted.
NOAA sees warm months ahead for Northwest
The Northwest’s late spring, summer and fall likely will be hotter and drier than usual as the Pacific Ocean warms up, leading toward a possible El Nino next winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday. Nick Bond is quoted.
Scientists just found a surprising possible consequence from a very small amount of global warming
Even if we meet our most ambitious climate goal — keeping global temperatures within a strict 1.5 degrees Celsius (or 2.7 degree Fahrenheit) of their preindustrial levels — there will still be consequences, scientists say. And they’ll last for years after we stop emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. New research suggests that extreme El Niño events — which can cause intense rainfall, flooding and other severe weather events in certain parts of the world — will occur more and more often as long as humans continue producing greenhouse gas emissions.
El Niño Again? This Is Why It’s Hard to Tell
The tropical Pacific Ocean is once again carrying on a will-it-or-won’t-it flirtation with an El Niño event, just a year after the demise of one of the strongest El Niños on record. The odds right now are about even for an El Niño to develop, frustrating forecasters stuck in the middle of what is called the spring predictability barrier. During this time, model forecasts aren’t as good as seeing into the future, in part because of the very nature of the El Niño cycle.
Robot Boats are Sailing the Seven Seas to Predict El Nino
Self-driving boats, kitted out with scientific sensors, could hold the key to avoiding the next major weather disaster. The boats, created by Saildrone, are being used by the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory to enhance data gathered from the Pacific Ocean, where water temperature patterns are helping scientists understand the El Niño phenomenon. Being able to predict the next event could save millions of dollars and countless lives.