Warnings of an El Ni\u00f1o unlike any other are starting to become reality.<\/p>\n
For months, scientists have cautioned that the natural climate pattern could grow into a record-breaking beast, releasing extraordinary amounts of heat from the ocean and fueling droughts, floods, heat waves and severe storms. Now, a traditional strength measurement of El Ni\u00f1o, called the Oceanic Ni\u00f1o Index, indicates that the pattern has reached an intensity unseen in recorded history.<\/p>\n
On September 21, the daily sea surface temperature in the region where El Ni\u00f1o develops \u2014 the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean \u2014 reached 3.08 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1991 to 2020 average. That\u2019s more extreme than any other El Ni\u00f1o ever recorded. <\/p>\n