The Weather Forecast for the Next Year Is Out — And It's Not Looking Good for Us

From:  Policy Mic 

By Tom McKay  April 8, 2014

 

 

The Weather Forecast for the Next Year Is Out — And It's Not Looking Good for Us Image Credit: NOAA The news: Forecasters are increasingly confident that an El Niño is looming ahead of us for 2014 — and this one could be quite a doozy.
Writes Slate's Eric Holthaus:

If current forecasts stay on track, El Niño might end up being the biggest global weather story of 2014.
The most commonly accepted definition of an El Niño is a persistent warming of the so-called "Niño3.4" region of the tropical Pacific Ocean south of Hawaii, lasting for at least five consecutive three-month "seasons." A recent reversal in the direction of the Pacific trade winds appears to have kicked off a warming trend during the last month or two. That was enough to prompt U.S. government forecasters to issue an El Niño watch last month.
Forecasters are increasingly confident in a particularly big El Niño this time around because, deep below the Pacific Ocean's surface, off-the-charts warm water is lurking:

The giant red blob? It's a really, really big underwater wave of "anomalously warm water" that currently spans much of the tropical Pacific. And it's starting to come to the surface.  MORE