El Niño and La Niña
Latest status (January 2019)

Sea surface temperature of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific remained above normal in the past month. Based on the latest oceanic observations as well as forecasts by a number of climate models around the world, the central and eastern equatorial Pacific is likely to remain warmer than normal in the coming months and develop into an El Niño near the end of this winter (December 2018 – February 2019).

Figure 1    Sea surface temperature anomalies of 16 December 2018 – 12 January 2019 in degree Celsius.