This article was originally published in UCSB’s ‘The Current‘.
nxiety is high over this year’s El Niño. It’s breaking records, and hasn’t even peaked. So how does El Niño work? What might Southern Californians expect? And how can we prepare for a potentially rough winter? Climate, ocean and coastal-policy experts at UC Santa Barbara offer their perspective.
The El Niño Southern Oscillation is a natural fluctuation of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. The cycle repeats itself every 2 to 7 years, bringing warm water east from the tropical Pacific, toward the west coasts of North and South America for a year. Higher sea temperatures affect weather and ocean patterns, generally bringing strong storms to Southern California…