Strongest El Nino will lead to a bad winter

EXPERTS are predicting that severe weather conditions will sweep the planet, thanks to this year’s El Nino, which is its most powerful since 1950.

A major El Nino event in the Pacific could significantly increase global temperatures, the UK’s Met Office has warned. But it could also lead to a very cold and snowy winter in this part of the world.

The research predicts the world has entered into what could be one of the strongest El Nino events in the past century, warming the Pacific Ocean and the rest of the world in turn.

While the shift in weather patterns is natural, El Nino’s effect on the temperature is becoming greater, because of the rising volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The trend could trigger potentially deadly droughts, heatwaves and other extreme weather events in some parts of the world, but could also mean summers here will become cooler over the next decade.

Met Éireann’s head of forecasting Gerald Fleming, speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, said: ‘The El Nino is band of a very warm water that extends across the Pacific almost over to Australia.

‘In contrast we have actually had a pool of cold surface water south of Greenland and Iceland and it has been quite persistent for the last 12 months and has helped to keep Ireland relatively cool.

‘So this part of Europe is not sharing in the warming trend but we are very much a small part of the bigger picture.’