As the climate changes and the ocean water grows cooler, the planet is getting ready to shift from La Niña to El Niño. This change occurs every three to five years, and the shift into El Niño will cause a rise in warmer ocean water with higher winds, resulting in hot and dry weather during the spring and winter in the Deep South.
El Niño reflects a shorter hurricane season. However, the hurricanes produced are much stronger and more potent than those in La Niña. This could cause extreme loss throughout the South, specifically in the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast region.
Abby Miller, a sophomore majoring in vocal performance originally from New Orleans, had experienced the impact of hurricanes.
“I have experienced many hurricanes in my life, the most devastating being Katrina (in 2005), having to relocate to Little Rock for the first few years of my life. Everyone’s home, including my own, had become complete rubble. Eventually, our family could move back home over the lake to Covington,” Miller said.
As June, the widely accepted start of hurricane season, rapidly approaches, staying informed on the weather and hurricane tracking is critical for those living in potential danger zones.
Two significant storms have unfolded under El Niño: Betsy in 1965 and Camille 1969. Camille reached a category five, the highest classification and most dangerous hurricane possible, and made landfall along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It was the second most intense hurricane to make landfall on the United States, killing more than 250 people and causing one $1.5 billion dollars of damage, $10 billion when adjusted for inflation.
Over the past three years, La Niña has provided the world with a cooling effect. During this cooling effect, the United States had the hottest summer on record in 2021, the third hottest in the summer of 2022, and the winter of 2022 was the fifth warmest. With El Niño in full force, it is predicted to bring intense heat worldwide and shatter these heat records.
The Pacific Ocean has already started to warm, the first warning signs that El Niño is approaching. The South should be prepared for one of the hottest summers yet. El Niño impacts the weather forecast worldwide with high rainfall, winds and temperature.
