The Return of El Niño: Implications for Extreme Weather and Global Warming.

El Niño, a global weather phenomenon, is set to return this summer, causing drastic effects from searing heatwaves to stronger storms. El Niño pushes warm water in the Pacific Ocean eastwards, causing dryer and warmer weather in northern USA and intense rainfall and flooding in the US Gulf Coast and Southeast. The global temperature increases by around 0.2 degrees Celsius during the phenomenon, which could mean breaking the crucial 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming limit. El Niño also endangers marine life along the Pacific Coast, suppressing or halting the process of upwelling, which brings cool, nutrient-rich water up from the ocean depths.