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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUnusually Intense El Nino May Lie Ahead, Scientists Say
Partly as a result of these wind bursts, ocean buoys and satellites have detected the movement of unusually warm ocean waters from the western Pacific to the east. Ocean surface currents, which normally move westward across the Pacific basin, have reversed as well. El Niño forecasters have taken this as a further sign of a developing El Niño, and these conditions were a key reason why an El Niño Watch was issued on March 6.
Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at NOAAs National Hurricane Center in Miami, said conditions are changing rapidly in the Pacific, going from 50/50 odds of an El Niño, to a setup that eerily resembles the circumstances that preceded the monster El Niño of 97-'98.
Its something we havent really seen since the '97 El Niño, Blake said of the westerly wind bursts and ocean observations. Instead of having trade winds blowing from the east at five to 10 mph, some locations in the western Pacific have had winds from the west blowing at up to 30 miles per hour, Blake says. This is important because it has ripple effects on the sea and below the sea surface.
[Its] not that we cant step away from it, but with each passing day [an El Niño event is] becoming more likely, Blake told Mashable.
Paul Roundy, a meteorology professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York, said that the westerly wind bursts have been extremely strong compared to historical records. Two of these events in particular, Roundy says, were of similar amplitude to the events that preceded the 1997 El Niño.
http://mashable.com/2014/03/19/intense-el-nino-maybe/
freshwest
(53,661 posts)That's from 1998, mentioned in the OP article.
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/impacts.html
Another. Drought possible?
Lot of dead links there and some say that funding has been cut.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)That was a nasty series of bad floods.
Not happy memories...
NBachers
(17,119 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Kablooie
(18,634 posts)Which we really need right now.