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Latest status of El Niño and La Niña

El Niño and La Niña
Latest status (March 2024)


In the past month or so, the weakening trend of the El Niño continued although sea surface temperatures over the central and eastern equatorial Pacific were still warmer than normal. Based on the latest oceanic observations as well as forecasts by a number of climate models around the world, the El Niño is expected to continue to weaken, transitioning to the ENSO-neutral state by end of spring or start of summer this year. Subsequently, the sea surface temperatures in the concerned region are expected to continue to decrease, indicating a likelihood of La Niña development starting in the latter half of 2024.


Sea surface temperature anomalies
(Image provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSL, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://psl.noaa.gov/)

Figure 1 Sea surface temperature anomalies of 18 February – 16 March 2024 in degree Celsius.


Note:

The next update will be available in the latter half of April 2024.


Related links:

What are El Niño, La Niña, ENSO?
The impact of El Niño and La Niña on the climate of Hong Kong
Seasonal and annual rainfall charts
Blogs relating to El Niño/La Niña
References on El Niño and La Niña
Seasonal forecast | Annual outlook | Climate change

For further information on this webpage, please contact Ms. M Y Chan (tel:2926 3102, email:mychan@hko.gov.hk)