3 Charts That Explain El Niño

With air and sea surface temperatures already breaking records, this year’s episode is on track to be the strongest in living memory.

The top 3

  1. The 1997-98 "Super El Niño": This event was one of the most powerful in recorded history, causing an estimated $32-96 billion in damages and leading to widespread droughts, flooding, and other natural disasters globally, including a severe outbreak of Rift Valley fever and record rainfalls in California.
  2. The 2015-16 "Godzilla El Niño": This El Niño was comparable in strength to the 1982-83 and 1997-98 events, breaking warming records in the central Pacific and contributing to record-breaking global temperatures in 2016. It triggered disease outbreaks globally, including plague and hantavirus in the American Southwest and cholera in Tanzania.
  3. The 1982-83 Surprise El Niño: This powerful event was largely unpredicted in its early stages due to limited forecasting tools, causing significant economic losses estimated at over $8 billion and leading to droughts in Indonesia and Australia, and widespread flooding in the southern United States.

Sources

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