A strong ‘El Nino’ and northeast monsoon: What lies ahead for Tamil Nadu? | Explained

The story so far: El Nino , meaning ‘the little boy’ in Spanish, has emerged as one of this year’s most widely discussed climate phenomena. The exceptional warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean is already influencing weather disruptions worldwide and is also hitting hard on Indian monsoon.

With the Southwest monsoon beginning to retreat and leaving rainfall deficits across parts of India, El Nino is being closely monitored as meteorologists await its impact during the ensuing northeast monsoon in the southern peninsula, including Tamil Nadu.