Experts say that Arizona this year is likely to see more of the record-breaking heat, deadly flooding and intense wildfires that have marked recent summers — and it could be even worse, thanks to the strong El Niño expected.
“It has been one of the biggest weather stories we have seen,” Shel Winkley, a meteorologist at Climate Central told reporters Wednesday about the “Super El Niño” that has been forming in the Pacific Ocean. Winkley, along with other climate scientists, spoke with reporters as part of a panel put on by Climate Action Campaign.
El Niño is the term used for a climate pattern that forms in the Pacific Ocean associated with warming of ocean temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific that impacts weather worldwide. A strong El Niño is often associated with dryer and warmer conditions in the northern United States, while causing increased flooding in the Gulf region and Southeast…