Britain’s Met Office said Friday that this year’s El Nino weather pattern is expected to be the biggest in over a century, with sea surface temperatures rising to an unheard-of level. Adam Scaife said the event could peak at more than three degrees and bring severe droughts in South America and the West Pacific. He also said it could increase rainfall and storminess in the U.K. around November.
This photograph shows cows in a meadow dried out by the heat in Saint Pierre-des-Ifs, northwestern France, Aug. 18. AFP-Yonhap
This year's El Nino weather pattern will be the biggest in over a century, warming sea surface temperatures to an "unheard-of" level, Britain's national weather agency predicted Friday.
The El Nino weather pattern is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5C above the baseline average, triggering worldwide changes in winds, atmospheric pressure and rainfall patterns, and causing warmer global temperatures overall.
Adam Scaife, head of long-range forecasting at the Met Office, told the BBC that "We are expecting the biggest El Nino for over a century, peaking at something over three degrees — that is unheard-of in modern climate records."
