El Nino is here 2015/2016

El Nino events in the Pacific occur every 2 -7 years and guess what... an El Nino event has just begun. It was announced in April as a weak El Nino but is gathering strength and is likely to bring much more severe impacts in September/ October. How do we know this?

Prediction for El Nino is very difficult before the event  as we don't know which year it will hit and which regions will be affected. BUT... once an El Nino event begins, scientists can use models to predict the possible impacts for a 6 month period with a fairly high level of accuracy. Based on this, scientists suggest that the impacts for this event could be severe in September/ October this year and many Australian farmers are bracing themselves for severe drought conditions.

The last El Nino event 5 years ago caused monsoons in SE Asia, drought s in Southern Australia, the Philippines and Ecuador, blizzards in the USA, heatwaves in Brazil and extreme flooding in Mexico.

Click on this link for more information about the 2015 El Nino and keep an eye on the news to watch how this unfolds as this is a very good case study for your Oceans unit.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32704506