CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Vampire Planet: The El Niño From Hell

Hurricane Iwa bearing down on Hawai’i, 1982.

We’re in for it. At least that’s the dire warning from scientists about the El Niño conditions now brewing in the Pacific Ocean. What’s actually in store may be up for debate, but it’s clear the developing patterns may place this El Niño on par with the strongest in over a century, which hit in 1982-83, killing 2,000 and leaving few corners of the planet untouched. It was a devastating El Niño that struck before climate change had fully taken hold of our world.

But before we look back at the early ’80s, let’s get a handle on what exactly causes these extreme weather events.

Simply put, the so-called El Niño-Southern Oscillation (El Niño for short) occurs when ocean waters near the equator in the Pacific become unusually warm. In turn, these warmer waters weaken trade winds, which typically push ocean waters toward Asia and Australia. As these winds shift during an El Niño event, warmer water is hurled toward the Americas instead, shifting weather patterns across the globe.

While El Niño is a normal weather occurrence, when it’s combined with a rapidly warming climate, all bets are off. Depending on where you live, one weather extreme or another is likely in your future. Think record heatwaves, worsening drought, heavier rainfall, and wildfires galore. Farms will be destroyed. Homes washed away, and economies ravaged — more of what our warming planet has been experiencing, but on steroids.

Back in 1982-83, the El Niño blindsided the scientific community, which failed to predict its development in the Pacific. As a result, the world was wholly unprepared, and the destruction was immense. The trade winds that year collapsed entirely and, in fact, reversed. This led to sea-surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific reaching 5°C or more above normal. Here’s a bit of what this wrought. 

Drought struck Australia, turning out to be one of the continent’s worst in the 20th century. Lack of rainfall led to unprecedented brushfires and blazing heat. Black Summer, Australia’s last big wildfire in 2019-2020, burned 59 million acres and killed 3 billion animals. And it wasn’t even an El Niño year. With Australia already experiencing........

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