La Niña could bring round two for Hawai‘i hurricanes

Graphic showing average sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies for the central Pacific Ocean between 24 April and 21 May 2106. Image courtesy of IPRC.

El Niño’s cooler sister La Niña is predicted to come calling and could deal a few wild cards of her own, researchers say. Axel Timmermann, a professor of Oceanography and El Niño researcher with the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) believes the transition period from El Niño to La Niña could bring stronger tropical cyclones for the Hawaiian Islands.

As El Niño decays, ocean heat is pushed away from the equator into the waters nearer to Hawai‘i and regions of the central and eastern Pacific where hurricanes are generated, Timmermann said. “This is certainly a process that needs to be closely monitored over the next months,” Timmermann said. “According to this scenario, La Niña increases the likelihood for hurricane intensification in the northeastern tropical Pacific.”

Read more about it in West Hawaii Today.