El Nino, Like Winter, Is Coming

If you’ve been watching the news lately, you haven't been able to escape the term ‘El Nino’.

The media and scientists are carefully monitoring this event as though it were the footy Grand Final.

For those of you who have no idea what it is, I’m sorry to burst your bubble: it’s not a Mexican Wrestler nor is it new.

Its literal translation is “the little boy,” however, El Nino is actually a potentially scary environmental phenomenon that Australians need to know about.

Like winter, it’s apparently coming.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), an El Nino event is the result of warmer than average sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, causing a change in atmospheric circulation.

What does El Nino mean to the rest of the world? Rains and floods. Coral and fish trying to escape the colder weather. The South American fishing industries in a struggle.

This year, Europe can also expect drier and colder winters, whilst in Australia, it’s been predicted that eastern Australia is going to get drier and hotter.

A year of warmer temperatures may mean more trips to the beach, however, 17 of the last 26 El Nino events have resulted in a widespread drought. BoM’s geniuses also predict increased risk of frosts in winter, reduced snow cover and extreme fires.

The potential for this El Nino to fit this severe stereotype in 2015 provides no comfort for farmers in Central Queensland who are already struggling from drought. Farmers are on high alert as wheat yields are expected to drop. Be ready for grocery prices to soar and for water restrictions to come back into play. It's probably best to have bushfire plans up to date, too.

Remember last year’s record-breaking heat that had half of the country burning and the other half refusing to go outside? Researchers are predicting that 2015’s El Nino will smash those records out of the park. Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation, which works in cycle with El Ninos and its counterpart, La Nina, also carries the possibility of accelerating global warming. That ever-growing looming dark cloud of Climate Change and Global Warming has expert projections showing an increased likelihood of back-to-back events and the emergence of super El Ninos.

The biggest impacts occur two to four months after peaking and could last until autumn. For now, we leave it up to the atmosphere to figure out how intense the 2015-2016 El Nino will be.

Cassie Ngurah is one of Student Edge’s student contributors. Learn more about the contributors program.