NASA Forecast for El Niño in 2023

June 05, 2023

NASA has spotted a series of Kelvin waves across the Pacific, considered to be a precursor to El Niño.

El Niño weather patterns warm up water in the Pacific Ocean every two to seven years and can have impacts across the U.S., including:

• Lower heating bills in northern U.S.
• Ski areas affected by lower snow levels
• Storms, flooding, and landslides in Southern California
• Heavy precipitation cause flooding and damage in Gulf states
• Reduction in crops the following summer such as corn, soybeans, sorghum, and tobacco
• Pacific Northwest fisheries experience a decline in the size and numbers of salmon

"We’ll be watching this El Niño like a hawk. If it's a big one, the globe will see record warming." Josh Willis, project scientist on Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

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