18 May 2023, NOAA – Climate .gov: As we blogged about earlier this month, the odds that El Niño—the warm phase of the planet’s most powerful natural climate pattern, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation—will emerge in the tropical Pacific Ocean later this year continue to rise. One sign that El Niño is on its way is the rapid shift from cool to warm ocean surface temperatures in the heart of the tropical Pacific. This animation shows weekly temperatures across the Pacific Ocean compared to the long-term average from December 5 to May 14. Cooler-than-average waters are blue; warmer than average waters are orange to red. The key area for monitoring La Niña and El Niño is outlined with a black rectangle. Week by week, cooler surface waters are gradually replaced by warmer waters from the east. Read more here.