According to the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) the current El Niño (when the waters of the Pacific become exceptionally warm and distort weather patterns around the world) is predicted to be one of the strongest on record.
The water in the Pacific is predicted to be 2°C warmer than normal. The event is likely to peak by the end of the year. The previous largest El Niño was in 1997-98.
El Niño can alter weather patterns from around the world – e.g. it can increase flooding the Horn of Africa while bringing South Africa into a severe drought; heavy flooding in North America while putting parts of Asia into a severe drought. In reality however, it will most likely decrease storm events in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico while increasing storm events in the eastern Pacific.
This won’t really affect us unless we all move to California, so we shouldn’t really worry. I feel like people on the list to prepare for lots more rain and humidity.
McGrath, M. (2015). Current el Nino Climate Event ‘among the Strongest’ [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-341205 83