Whether or not the emerging El Niño ends California’s terrible drought is uncertain, says a noted Yale meteorologist, but its likely impact on average global temperature should silence arguments about a hiatus in global warming.
Professor Ron Smith, winner of the American Meteorological Society’s Jule G. Charney award and Director of Yale’s Earth Observation Center, has taught a course on fundamentals of atmosphere and ocean physics at Yale every fall for 30 years. But this is only the second time he’ll be teaching it as an El Niño develops in the Pacific Ocean, one that weather service professionals have dubbed “Godzilla” El Niño in recognition of its disruptive potential and likelihood of representing the largest aberration of East Pacific ocean temperatures since they began noting the phenomenon in the 1970s.
http://climate.yale.edu/penumbra/el-nino-godzilla-vs-hiatus?utm_source=YNemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ynalumni-09-09-15
