NOAA | Pakistan

The weather phenomenon El Nino has arrived, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday, and scientists expect it will intensify into the end of the year, potentially to historic strength. El Nino is a natural climate phenomenon that warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, bringing worldwide changes in winds, rainfall patterns and erratic weather. And scientists fear it will exacerbate the heat of a planet already warming from burning fossil fuels, while amping up weather extremes. In its latest advisory NOAA scientists said “El Nino conditions developed over the past month” as shown by those above-average sea surface temperatures in the Pacific. “There is a 63 per cent chance of a very strong El Nino during November-January that would rank among the largest El Nino events in the historical record going back to 1950,” the advisory read. Every El Nino is different, but major events often follow familiar patterns. This includes drought acro...