La Niña returns for the 3rd consecutive year for the 1st time this century

Flooding in Australia
(Image credit: visionandimagination.com/Getty Images)

For the first time this century, the weather phenomenon known as La Niña has returned for the third year in a row. La Niña is likely to bring about more extreme weather across the whole globe.

The weather system is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific due to winds blowing the warm water on the surface of the Pacific towards Indonesia. This is the opposite of El Niño, which brings unusually warm ocean temperatures to the Equatorial Pacific.

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Devika Rao, The Week US

 Devika Rao has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022, covering science, the environment, climate and business. She previously worked as a policy associate for a nonprofit organization advocating for environmental action from a business perspective.