As La Niña continues to stir in the tropical Pacific Ocean, the latest analysis shows there’s a 70 percent chance it will develop between August and October.
The climate phenomenon shifts the world's atmospheric circulation, changing weather patterns around the globe. Characterized by cooler-than-average sea surface waters in large swaths of the tropical Pacific, it also usually takes the edge off human-caused heating of the planet, albeit temporarily.
But even taking that likely cooling effect into account, a new annual global heating record is very likely in 2024, according Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
With last month coming in as Earth's warmest June on record, a new global heating record is likely in 2024. (Credit: Gavin Schmidt via Bluesky)
Gavin Schmidt via Bluesky
Schmidt made the prediction on the Bluesky social media platform after his institute's analysis showed last month to be the warmest June ...
