I live in the Midwestern US, for context.
I understand that La Niña and El Niño are more or less cyclical (ignoring ENSO Neutral which just seems to more often than not just be a transition between the two) and that weather effects differ depending on where you are in the world. But it seems as if every time there’s a transition between the two, no matter if we’re transitioning to La Niña or El Niño, it somehow means that we’re “really in for a hot one this year!”
[A 2024 article from CNN explaining that La Niña makes it hot](https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/13/weather/el-nino-la-nina-summer-forecast-climate/index.html).
[A 2020 article, also from CNN, indicating that El Niño leads to higher world average temperatures](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/09/10/weather/la-nia-is-here-trnd)
Surely they can’t both mean hotter than normal, right? We’re almost always in one or the other. If it’s hotter than average all the time, then that’s the new average.
Make it make sense.
In: Planetary Science
Effects are pretty different for different parts of the world. Some places get hotter and wetter during El Niño and some places get colder and dryer.
Latest Answers