Peruvians did not see this coming.
An unexpected warmup in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean is causing heavy rains to repeatedly batter Peru, causing some of the worst flooding in decades. Floods have killed dozens and displaced more than 500,000 so far, with more heavy rain expected to fall in coming weeks.
So, what's to blame here?
El Niño, which is an event characterized higher than average ocean temperatures in the equatorial tropical Pacific, along with a reversal of trade winds blowing across the planet's largest ocean, officially ended its run in June of last year. (Such events can rearrange weather patterns from South America to East Africa.) Read more...
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