How is the "el nino effect" making it warmer right now?

Question

It was 70 degrees here yesterday. In alabama, but still. My meteorology professor said that it had something to do with a strong el nino going on right now. What does that mean?

Answer 1

Here's a shorter version of the really long answer given below:

El nino begins when trade winds off of western South American begin to weaken, slowing the mixing of deep cold ocean water to the surface. This in turn causes an increase in ocean surface temperature in the western pacific. The abnormally warm surface water alters the wintertime jet stream in the U.S., causing the jet to stay farther up in Canada. Imagine the jet stream as a blocker keeping the cold air out of the United States.

Answer 2

El Nino's occuring in the Pacific ocean seem to originate in the Western Pacific. Warming 100's of square miles of cold ocean by even 10 - 20 degrees. It then travels easterly toward the Americas. It no doubt can warm the air above it that could possibly keep the jet stream to the North longer than it otherwise would. The cause of the El Nino can only be from an undersea lava extrusion where the temperature is of molten rock. 6000 to 8000 degrees. What else could heat up so much water? This phenomonem is intermittent, it varies in location depending where the pressure is in need of release. Probably along the so-called 'Ring of Fire'. It is not seasonal.

Answer 3

El Nino is like a storm season deal. It does make the year warmer and stormier.I can't explain it well but there is also an aftermath after el nino called la nina which does something else. I can't remmeber much sorry.

Answer 4

I agree, those short-time period consequences we are seeing now might want to be likely El Nino. we will likely see quickly, for the reason that i have heard those who anticipate such issues holding El Nino is ending previously predicted. international warming is likewise effecting the elements besides the undeniable fact that, there is no arguing that. it would want to reason cooler than frequent temperatures in some places through entire climate substitute bit, no longer only hotter temps everywhere. besides the undeniable fact that it truly is going to likely be some 3 hundred and sixty 5 days previously we quite get hit puzzling by it.

Answer 5

To understand the twin concepts of climate and weather and why they should be affected by El Niño, think of the atmosphere as a huge pot of fluid (our atmosphere is a mixture of gaseous fluids, after all) on a stove with heating elements (hot spots of warm tropical ocean temperatures) located under certain portions of the pot.

This creates a characteristic circulation (climate) in the pot, with warm fluid rising over the hot spots and moving away toward the cooler regions where it sinks (the Earth's higher latitudes).

The circulation has embedded turbulence, or eddies (weather), that are inherently less predictable than the average circulation itself, but nevertheless conform to a statistically expected behavior (again, climate).

As thermal anomalies develop in ocean temperatures during El Niño, displacing cold water in certain regions, the distribution and intensity of the hot spots under the pot are changed; naturally, so too does the circulation pattern in the pot change, along with the statistical expectations for the turbulence (i.e., the weather).

Although we cannot predict the precise nature of the altered weather far in advance, we do know more or less how different it will be on average.

In response to the more uniform pattern of heating in the tropics during an El Niño the wintertime jet streams in each hemisphere tend to be more uniform from east to west and extend farther east than normal. However, the timing, location and magnitude of the ocean warming varies from one El Niño to the next, which results in variations in the patterns of tropical rainfall and deep tropical heating.

These conditions contribute to variations in the precise location, strength and structure of the mid-latitude jet streams over both the North and South Pacific from one El Niño to the next, and thus to the variability in weather patterns and storm tracks over North and South America.

A second major reason for the variability in weather patterns from one El Niño to the next is simply that El Niño is not the only factor influencing the weather and climate.

In particular, the atmosphere exhibits considerable variability on time scales ranging from days to seasons to years, and this variability often reflects nothing more than the normal chaotic behavior of the atmosphere. This description is particularly applicable to areas such as eastern North America, the North Atlantic, Europe, etc., which are heavily influenced by features such as the North Atlantic jet stream. "

Answer 6

Ifit is, it is not working very well at the moment. It's colder than heck here!

Answer 7

Have him explain it. Because it has not been warm in Texas for weeks. I think it means a bunch of crap.