El Niño is gestating in the Pacific, possibly heralding warmer global temps and extreme weather in 2019

Here is how sea surface temperatures differed from the the 1981-2010 average during May of 2018. (Source: ENSO Blog/Climate.gov) While 2019 is still a long way off, we've now got some strong hints that the coming year could bring even warmer global temperatures, plus droughts in some regions, and floods in others. These climatic and weather effects would come from an El Niño that seems to be gestating in the tropical Pacific. A warming of tropical Pacific waters beneath the surface, along with the output of computer and statistical modeling, have prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue an official El Niño watch. That means conditions are favorable for the development of the weather-altering phenomenon within the next six months. Based on all of the evidence available now, forecasters peg the odds of El Niño emerging in the tropical Pacific at 65 percent. It would most likely emerge ...