Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Is La Nina changing to El Nino

 Is La Nina finally on the way out after nearly 3 years? What is La Nina and what does it mean for our weather?

La Nina generally takes place when the SST (Sea Surface Temperature) to the West of South America is colder than normal. Through this process the weather systems around the globe are affected. Generally Winters are drier and colder. 

Does La Nina affect Irelands weather? It does seem to weaken the Atlantic influence to our weather as we have seen in the past few years there has been less storms and the Atlantic has been "quiet". 

So what will El Nino mean for us? Well the SST is now increasing and we may have a global El Nino as soon as this Summer. This generally results in warmer than average conditions around the world. While we have seen a lot of warm weather worldwide due to Climate Change there are fears the situation could get much worse with an El Nino event. The last El Nino to quickly follow a La Nina in Ireland in Summer was 1976!

The state of SST in February 2023



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