Japanese weather agency records El Niño at record strength — The Japan Times

Japan’s meteorological agency reported that El Niño has reached record strength. In September, sea surface temperatures in the area of the tropical Pacific monitored by the agency were 4°C above normal — the highest reading in observations since 1949, The Japan Times reports.

Previous record in 1997

The previous high was recorded in December 1997, when the sea surface temperature deviation from normal stood at 3.7°C. El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon in which surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific warm up. It affects winds, atmospheric pressure and precipitation patterns in different parts of the world.

Winter forecast

The Japanese agency forecasts with 100% probability that El Niño will persist throughout the winter in the Northern Hemisphere. This forecast is consistent with the assessment of the U.S. Climate Prediction Center, which expects the phenomenon to persist at least through the January–March period.

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The World Meteorological Organization also stated the day before that El Niño could become the most intense on record. Its assessment is based on data from the Niño 3.4 region, which partly overlaps with, but is located west of, the Niño 3 region monitored by the Japanese agency.

The phenomenon has already disrupted weather patterns worldwide: India recorded its weakest monsoon in more than a decade, forest fires intensified in Indonesia, and risks emerged for sugar and coffee production in Brazil.