Los Angeles [US], July 22: There is a greater than 90 percent chance that El Niño will continue through the Northern Hemisphere this winter, according to a recent analysis by the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS).
The most recent International Research Institute for Climate and Society plume indicates El Niño will persist through the Northern Hemisphere in the winter of 2023, according to the analysis.
Forecasters favor continued growth of El Niño through the fall, peaking this winter with moderate-to-strong intensity.
El Niño and La Niña are climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean that can affect weather worldwide.
During El Niño, trade winds weaken. Warm water is pushed back east, toward the west coast of the Americas.
El Niño can affect weather significantly. The warmer waters cause the Pacific jet stream to move south of its neutral position. With this shift, areas in the northern United States and Canada are dryer and warmer than usual, according to the NWS.
El Niño also has a strong effect on marine life off the Pacific coast, said the NWS.
U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security Cary Fowler said recently that he was "very concerned" about what El Niño could mean for crop production and resulting impacts on global food security.
"The possibility that this is going to be not just a normal El Niño, which would be a problem, but a historically strong El Niño, means that it increases the odds, or true problems, with food production, and therefore the onset of more challenges for food insecurity," Fowler said in an interview with Axios.
Source: Xinhua