The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared on Thursday that the El Nino climate pattern is now underway, bringing the threat of more frequent tropical cyclones in the Pacific, increased rainfall and flooding in parts of the Americas and rising temperatures across the globe.
El Nino and its counterpart, La Nina, are climate patterns that originate in the Pacific Ocean every two to seven years on average, and can affect weather worldwide. The past three years have been dominated by the cooler La Nina pattern, but the start of El Nino is set to bring warmer temperatures and extreme weather conditions around the globe.
