El Nio is nearing historic strength. What this means and when it will end.

[elleng]

This could be one of the strongest El Niño events observed over the past 75 years, new data shows.

*Growing water-temperature anomalies and strengthening abnormal wind patterns over the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean suggest the extreme weather impacts for which El Niño is known will continue — if not accelerate — around the world. What happens in that zone of the Pacific has cascading effects around the globe.

That includes ongoing heat waves, drought and fires in Australia, deadly floods in Kenya, and drought and floods in parts of South America. In the United States, it is likely to mean more heavy rain along the Gulf Coast and in Florida, which has experienced major recent flooding, and wet and stormy conditions in California, a pattern that has been forecast to set in soon.

At the same time, scientists now see a coming end to the present El Niño.

Climate models suggest it is more likely than not that El Niño conditions dissipate by June, returning the Pacific to what are called neutral conditions — the absence of El Niño and its foil, La Niña — according to analysis published Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.'>>>

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/12/15/el-nino-peak-impacts-climate/?