Super El Niño nearing a record, and the weather pattern looks like it

A strong El Niño is continuing to intensify and could approach record strength, with ocean temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific 2.5 degrees Celsius above average in mid-November. NOAA’s latest three-month relative oceanic Niño index remained just below the pace of the 1997 event and below the 1982–83 record. The pattern is already influencing U.S. weather, including flooding rain and unusually warm, dry conditions.