Global 2015-2016 winter forecast: comparing NCEP model runs to NOAA’s ‘typical El Niño patterns’ – Brazil in for shock, little relief for California

Normally we think of droughts over South East Asia (i.e. Borneo) and north-eastern Australia (Queensland) associated with strong El Niño events. This for instance led to dramatic fires through the tropical rainforests of Borneo, during the last ‘Super El Niño’ … Continue reading

2015 El Niño produces new climate record: 3 simultaneous Pacific category 4 hurricanes

Small Island States don’t (yet*) make global headlines, but this NASA picture shows a new Pacific climate record, which has a story for us all.

NASA climate model forecast shows 2015 El Niño to go off the charts during Paris climate summit

According to the world’s best-established dynamical climate models (e.g. NOAA NCEP, NASA GMAO) the 2015 El Niño is set to peak to dramatic proportions just before and possibly also during the all-important Paris climate summit – the UNFCCC’s ‘COP21’ – … Continue reading

Halfway through and 2014 Hottest Year Prediction coming very close to Truth

Okay, disclaimer first: there may be a bit of a climate ego involved in this post. So therefore it is probably best to start with where we were wrong(ish). Based on some rather extensive monitoring of climate models over several … Continue reading

A new ‘super El Niño’ would peak ~0.2 Celsius above the one in this graph

Shown below is a graph of the satellite-derived University of Alabama global temperature dataset (those fellows that each year in early January beat NOAA/NASA/MetOffice/WMO etc by being the first to say ‘how warm it was’). Clearly visible is the peak … Continue reading

This image shows it all. El Niño from May, intensifying over 2014

The below image was released by NOAA yesterday, 7 April 2014. It shows the NCEP climate model is anticipating the arrival of this Kelvin wave – and that El Niño will surface around May 2014 and likely intensify during the boreal summer … Continue reading

Two hottest years ever: 2014 will set new world temperature record – and 2015 will break it

El Niño Southern Oscillation index: duration and intensity of La Niña and El Niño years. El Niño is usually defined as a positive temperature anomaly in the east and central tropical Pacific. Another way to express the climate phenomenon is … Continue reading

Arctic sea ice literally halved – September 2012 smashes old record, 3.29 million km2 ice gone

As the days shorten and the summer sun is slowly setting under the horizon, the frost is returning to the Arctic and American scientists make up the balance of what has turned out to be an unprecedented melting season. The … Continue reading

The Big Melting Record that did not shake the world

Do you recall the big Arctic melting records of 2005 and 2007? Probably you do. Scientists had noticed the Arctic ice was on a declining trend and predicted this would continue under expected climate change. But no one expected the … Continue reading