In August, we took a look at how this winter’s El Niño was shaping up. While most predictions pointed to an El Niño comparable with 1997 (the worst on record), some were predicting that a “Godzilla El Niño” was on its way. Now that we’re in the midst of it, let’s take a look at how El Niño has shaped up.
What better place to start than looking at 2015/2016 in the National Weather Service’s historical record:
The current El Niño is the second strongest since 1950, marginally behind 1997. It’s strong, but not a momentous version stronger than anything seen before (i.e. a Godzilla).
Granted it’s a strong one, let’s look at some of the weather it has brought:
In addition to these intense events, this El Niño has brought us Hurricane Patricia:
So, is this El Niño “Godzilla”? No. Is it packing a punch? Indeed it is, but nothing significantly worse than before. The most interesting thing is how accurate the serious forecasts and predictions have been: it is supposed to be comparable to 1997, and it is.