The latest weekly Sea Surface Temperature (SST) data issued by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) confirm an extraordinary intensification of the El Niño phenomenon in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, reaching critical anomaly values.
The key Niño 3.4 region —used internationally to determine the phenomenon's intensity— recorded a temperature of 29.6 °C, a thermal anomaly of +3.0 °C above the historical mean (1991-2020), formally classifying as a Strong / Extraordinary Category El Niño event. In addition, the coastal Niño 1+2 region reached an extreme deviation of +4.6 °C (25.3 °C) and Niño 3 a value of +3.8 °C (28.6 °C).
This ocean-atmosphere disturbance generates a subsidence pattern (massive descent of dry air) over northern South America, the Orinoco basin and the Caribbean. The phenomenon inhibits cloud formation and causes prolonged meteorological droughts, drastically increasing the water stress of vegetation. In this scenario, integrating these macroclimatic data into Forest Fire Assistant (FFA) makes it possible to anticipate critical risk windows and support preventive decision-making in the Pre-Fire and During Fire phases.
Source: NOAA Climate Prediction Center
