The Latest Breaking News from El Niño

The Bureau of Meteorology is in discussions with international atmospheric agencies to overhaul how La Niña and El Niño are defined, potentially rewriting the record books of global weather history.

If you’ve been visiting the same beach for a few summers, you’ll have seen it change. While beaches look static, they’re actually one of the most dynamic regions on Earth. Winds, waves and tides stir and push sand around constantly. Storms can claw out huge volumes of sand and move…

Researchers say erosion of beaches along south-east coast – including at tourist hotspot Noosa – is significantly affecting local biodiversity

It looks like there'll be no Beast from East from a reverse polar vortex this year

A frosty 2023-24 winter season is likely if El Niño ramps up

Every two to seven years, the equatorial Pacific Ocean gets up to 3°C warmer (what we know as an El Niño event) or colder (La Niña) than usual, triggering a cascade of effects felt around the world. This cycle is called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) because every El…

For decades, two climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean have loomed large in predicting weather in California and other parts of the globe. El Niño — a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific — seemed synonymous with wet winters for Southern California, while La Niña was a heralder…

Scientists are fearing the worst, predicting dangerous bushfire weather, fiercer heatwaves and severe coral bleaching across the Great Barrier Reef

Thanks to El Niño, the world is about to experience something like time travel to the year 2050. It won’t be pleasant. But rather than devolve into panic at the grim climate future it portends, we should use it as a warning about the need to do more to slow…

Scientists have predicted the return of the El Niño climate phenomenon later this year. Its arrival will result in even higher global temperatures and supercharged extreme weather events. Ian Sample speaks to environment editor Damian Carrington about what we can expect from El Niño and whether we’re prepared

After three soggy years of La Niña in a row, Australia has endured record-breaking floods, the latest of which has inundated the Kimberley in Western Australia and across north and central Queensland.