The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says the already-strong El Niño
strengthened in November.
It says
atmospheric and oceanic anomalies reflect a strong and mature El Niño episode
and most models signal a strong event will continue through the winter and
weaken to ENSO-neutral in late spring or early summer.
"The
forecaster consensus remains nearly unchanged, with the expectation that this
El Niño could rank among the top three strongest episodes as measured by the
three-month SST (sea surface temperature) departures in the Niño 3.4 region
going back to 1950," says NOAA.
NOAA notes
the current El Niño event has produced significant global impacts.
There are
already severe droughts in parts of Africa.
The Southern
United States is in for a cooler and wetter winter, but Eastern Canada is in
for a milder start to winter followed by cold weather in February, but not as
cold as last year’s record-breaking temperatures.
The Weather
Network says “for most of the
eastern half of Canada, the mild start to winter will be offset by the cold
conclusion and result in final numbers that are close to “normal” for the
winter as a whole.
“This is noticeably
warmer than the past two winters across this region, but considerably colder
than other strong El Niño winters of the past.”
