Publication Date November 16, 2015 | LiveScience

El Niño Expected to Strengthen, Bring Wild Weather Across US

Kiribati
A comparison of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific in 1997 (a strong El Nino year) and 2015. Image: World Meteorological Organization
A comparison of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific in 1997 (a strong El Nino year) and 2015. Image: World Meteorological Organization

"Severe droughts and devastating flooding being experienced throughout the tropics and subtropical zones bear the hallmarks of this El Niño, which is the strongest for more than 15 years," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said... Predicting weather patterns in particular regions in this strengthening El Niño is difficult, however, because the pattern is only one of several that affect global weather..."[T]his naturally occurring El Niño event and human-induced climate change may interact and modify each other in ways which we have never before experienced...Even before the onset of El Niño, global average surface temperatures had reached new records. El Niño is turning up the heat even further"