Weather & Science
Planet-Warming El Niño to Form by September, US Forecasters Say
Cars drive along a street flooded with seawater in Mill Valley, California.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesUS forecasters say an El Niño is favored to emerge in the Pacific Ocean by September, threatening to drive global temperatures higher and disrupt crops in the months ahead.
Scientists at the US Climate Prediction Center project a 62% chance that an ocean-heating El Niño would emerge during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer, with odds climbing higher into the fall. The phenomenon is poised to add extra warmth to a planet that’s rapidly heating due to human-caused climate change.