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We’ve all heard about it by now. El Niño. It’s wrecking winter in the northeastern United States. But, what is this weather phenomenon and how does it affect climate around the world? Let’s find out in Geography Quest: El Niño.
What is El Niño?
It’s been in the weather news in 2015 and they say it’s the strongest on record since forever, but what is it?
- Research El Niño.
- Where does it occur?
- Describe the event. What happens during an El Niño?
- Place El Niño on a map of the world.
Causes of El Niño
Now that we have an understanding of what El Niño is, let’s find out what causes it.
- In my limited research, it says that the cause of El Niño is not well understood. What does your research say?
- How often does El Niño occur?
- What is one cause of the upwelling of deep ocean welling?
- How does a change in the atmospheric winds contribute to El Niño?
How Does El Niño Affect the Weather
Certainly our above average temperatures here in upstate New York can’t be related to an event many thousands of miles away. Can it? What about where you live? Do you have more rain than usual? More snow? More cold temperatures?
- How does the temperature of the ocean affect weather around the world?
- Can you name other oceanographic phenomena which affect weather?
- Why does
- Make a weather map charting this year’s weather or predicted weather.
- Compare that map with a map of the average weather for your area.
Related Posts at Blog, She Wrote
Exploring Oceanography in Your Homeschool– El Niño is a oceonographic event. Learn more about our world’s oceans with the ideas in this post.
Teaching Geography with Earth Science– Earth Science and Geography both allow us to learn about the ocean and all the wonderful facets of how the ocean can affect weather and geography.
Weather Stations & Weather Forecasting– Do you track your weather? Read on to see how you can keep a weather station and learn how to use the data to forecast weather.
Geography Quest: Hurricane Tracking Edition– Specifically where and El Niño occurs in the Pacific can affect the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic. Hurricane season goes from June through November in the Atlantic. Track hurricanes that do pop up using the tools in this post.
El Niño is a weather phenomenon which is difficult to understand and predict. It’s presence is somewhat cyclical and it brings warmer winters to the northeast United States.