El Nino, ‘Godzilla,’ is Officially Over
Exceptionally warm oceans, "one storm after another like a conveyor belt," California drought are just some of the consequences of a weather phenomena called El Nino, christened as Godzilla, and it is now officially dead!
As the Pacific reportedly cooled and the extreme tropical temperatures started waning, El Nino, though still present, has now started to recede, making way for the next phase, La Nina.
Even though much hyped El Nino was supposed to turn tables for California, it didn't perform the way it was expected to.
However, now that La Nina is approaching, its most cited impact is a noticeable increase in the hurricane activity in North Atlantic. This effect is evident even in the most neutral conditions. According to the mechanism, as the wind speed changes with height, going farther up in the atmosphere, it impacts the development of hurricane. During La Nina, the wind shear is lower over North Atlantic, whereas during El Nino, it is more.
However, that doesn't say anything about the sea surface being warm enough to act as a catalyst for hurricanes, or storm development could be arrested due to mounting pressure over North Atlantic.
The main culprit of El Nina, jet streams, experience change during La Nina too. Rather than bringing storms to the South of US as result of strong jet stream, La Nina creates a wavier jet stream bringing in more rain and storm to the Northern states. This effect becomes more noticeable in winter.
A team of researchers led by John Allen at IRI are already looking into how El Nino and La Nina could be impacting the harshness of tornadoes. It is estimated that while El Nino suppresses the tornado activity, La Nina increases it. However, it is important to note that these patterns are estimated based on previous La Ninas.
