A leading weather expert has issued an update on El Niño, with another weather phenomenon looking like it’s “taking over”.

El Niño is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5C above the long-term average – this threshold was realised last year.

The process is generally associated with soaring temperatures worldwide. It came as temperature records were smashed last year (2023 was the hottest year in history) with heatwaves ravaging countries across the world as a result of climate change.

Jim Dale, Senior Meteorological Consultant at British Weather Services, told the Daily Star that the strength of El Niño now appears to be “decreasing”.

“At the moment the effects of it are very much there, that’s without question,” he said, pointing to “weird” temperatures in places like Thailand where 28C was recently recorded overnight (it is currently also winter there).

Mr Dale went on: “But there now appears to be a La Niña taking over.” La Niña is the opposite of El Niño and refers to episodes of cooler-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.

Mr Dale went on: “But there now appears to be a La Niña taking over.” La Niña is the opposite of El Niño and refers to episodes of cooler-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.

“But the thing to think about here is, because of those incredible temperatures – particularly in the oceans but also on the land – we live in unprecedented times.

“Looking forward, a lot has not changed from last year with the record temperatures that came around the world. I can’t see any difference in terms of seeing repeated heatwaves, droughts, that type of thing as we go forward.”

Read More Here