The Royal Meteorological Society has identified a ‘super’ El Niño – on a hotter planet, this means greater risks.
Crucially though, El Niño is impacted by a warmer world, not the other way around. El Niño may push global temperatures towards new records, yet the long term warming originates from fossil fuel use.
When occurring in an already warm world, the impacts of El Niño are amplified – this year’s El Niño could temporarily push temperatures to 1.6 -1.8°C, a long-term level of heating we will reach within 10-15 years at current emission rates. El Niño creates changes in heatwaves, droughts, extreme rainfall and floods based on rainfall and atmospheric circulation.
A warmer atmosphere means intensified weather events, therefore leading to worse consequences.
The society say that we can’t stop El Niño but we can limit the warming that takes it to new extremes, by tackling fossil fuels. They say rapidly cutting fossil fuel emissions and investing in climate resilience are essential to limiting future risks.
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