Image #1 - April 2014
Image #2 - March 2015
Just by looking at the photos we can see the "blob" as some like to call it and we can notice the difference between the two. Sea surface temperature is on the rise and it's all thanks to El Nino. Over the past few years we have had warmer than average temperatures and have broken records for some of the hottest months on record.
The weather in North America, particularly in winter, has been unusually extreme for much of the past two years. The western half has endured record-setting heat and, in many places, persistent and debilitating drought. The eastern half of North America has faced record cold and snow. With less food in the region, Pacific Northwest and California Current fish species started appearing in the waters off Alaska. Sea birds and sea lions were dying off or becoming emaciated because of a lack of food.
Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, added that “the appearance of the ‘blob’ and other changes in temperatures, wind patterns, and ocean currents may indicate that the Pacific Ocean is shifting from a cool, dry phase to a warm, wet phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Past similar shifts have signaled wetter winters in the West and more benign winters in the upper Midwest and Northeast, a flip-flop from the past few winters.”
-Therese Latimer
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