As ocean surface temperatures soar to record highs, the World Meteorological Organization said Wednesday it expects a shift toward El Niño by this fall, which could shake up weather patterns and trigger more extreme weather events in the U.S. and other parts of the world.
Forecasters expect the temporary El Niño pattern to alter rainfall patterns, elevate average air temperatures and contribute to more intense storm systems. The El Niño pattern, which is a temporary and natural climate anomaly, will layer on top of the warming attributable to human-caused climate change. Both trends push average air and sea temperatures higher.
Daily sea surface temperatures last month reached highs not seen in at least four decades of recordkeeping, according to a data visualization from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer.
“As surface temperatures rise, that adds more fuel to the atmosphere and that fuel is heat and moisture,” said John Abraham, a professor and program director in the school of engineering at the University of St. Thomas who studies ocean temperatures. “It intensifies weather patterns. It means the weather becomes more extreme.”
The combination of El Niño and the long-term trend of global warming could produce new record-setting global temperatures and exacerbate the impacts of climate change.
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