It’s Official: A Super El Niño Has Arrived Ahead of Winter

After months of conjecture, the Super El Niño has officially arrived. Forecasters have been warning for quite some time that this El Niño was likely to develop into what climatologists call a Super El Niño. What does the onset of this powerful climate phase mean for the weather in the coming months? This is what you need to know heading into the winter season.

Super El Niño is Now Official Following NOAA Declaration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center (CPC) officially declared on Thursday that the ongoing El Niño is now a Super El Niño. This distinction is notable, as it is just the sixth time since 1950 that an El Niño year has gone into this record territory.

This declaration came as no surprise to anyone who has been following the evolution of this particular El Niño. El Niño is in place when ocean water temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific hit at least 0.5 degrees Celsius above the norm for at least three months. These readings inched up more in October, sending the ongoing El Niño into record territory.