After three consecutive years of an unusually stubborn pattern, La Niña has officially ended and El Niño is on the way, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.

“The old La Niña playbook and the old El Niño playbook don’t seem to be as reliable as they used to be,” said Jan Null, an adjunct professor of meteorology at San Jose State University.

El Niño and La Niña sometimes don’t follow the expected patterns. And strength matters: A strong El Niño, for instance (as measured by how high sea-surface temperatures are above normal) ...

El Nino and La Nina not only disrupt weather patterns but also play a role in triggering agricultural, public health, political, and economic issues.

El Niño helped drive global average temperatures to new records over the last year. Forecasters say it's waning, but that 2024 may still be one for the record books.

WASHINGTON — After three nasty years, the La Niña weather phenomenon that increases Atlantic hurricane activity and worsens western drought is gone, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric ...

In fact, 2022 was the warmest La Niña on record, and adding the additional heat of El Niño means the next year or two will likely climb even higher on the list of hottest years on record.

The occurrence of El Niño and La Niña are defined by water temperatures and winds in the Pacific, but they have an impact on the types of weather we see here on land.

In the spring, La Niña is most likely to be replaced by conditions meteorologists refer to as “ENSO neutral,” which is when neither La Niña nor El Niño is present.

La Niña, the climate pattern that helped fuel the extremely active hurricane seasons and drought in the southwest over the past 21/2 years, has ended, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad… ...