By May, it's starting to look like it's going to be a big El Niño. The warm patch in the center of the Pacific, the one you could see forming in April, has started expanding to the east. At the same time, the surface waters off Peru are starting to get unusually warm. The warm anomaly below the surface is quite strong, over 6 degrees Celsius (about 11 F).
Last modified: 10 October 1997
Contact: dpierce@ucsd.edu
Copyright © 2000 David W. Pierce. All rights reserved.