This 'Great Dying' appears to have been driven by a complex series of incidents, with a new study finding prolonged, intense climate fluctuations not unlike modern El Niños almost undoubtedly made a bad situation a lot worse.
The warm ocean water behind this month’s flooding suggests another El Niño may be forming. The water is so warm, that Peru climatologists declared a “coastal El Niño” to communicate to the public the kind of conditions they should prepare for.
The 2015-16 El Nino has likely reached its end. Tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures, trade winds, cloud and pressure patterns have all dropped back to near normal, although clearly the event's impacts around the globe are still being felt.
