El Niño Strengthens, Raising New Concerns for Panama Canal

El Niño is strengthening across the tropical Pacific, with U.S. forecasters now seeing a greater than 90% chance it becomes a very strong event this fall and winter.

The latest update from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center shows sea surface temperatures well above normal across the eastern and east-central equatorial Pacific, with atmospheric conditions also firmly consistent with El Niño.

The warming has picked up considerably in recent months. The latest weekly temperature anomaly in the closely watched Niño 3.4 region is 1.8 degrees Celsius above average. Farther east, temperatures are running as much as 3.5 degrees above normal.

NOAA