The return of strong El Niño conditions could mean a second wet winter for California, among global impacts. Here a man pushes his stalled car from the southbound 101 Freeway in Montecito during a heavy downpour in early January.
(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)
It’s Earth’s original disrupter — a recurring climate pattern so powerful that it can drive global average temperature to record highs, and generate both cliff-crumbling storms and crop-destroying droughts across the planet.
Now, after a long hiatus, El Niño is showing signs of a strong return in 2023.
This week, federal forecasters said there was a 55% chance that a strong El Niño would occur, effectively flooding the surface of the Equatorial Pacific with water so unusually warm that it can alter weather patterns and devastate some ocean fisheries.
Read more at LA Times.