Ring the bells, pop the Champers because lo, and behold folks: La Niña is officially over. Please, excuse us while we sing this from the rooftop of the Sydney Tower Eye. Everyone needs to know this. Literally, everyone. We’re not even being dramatic.
According to the all-seeing weather gods over at the Bureau of Meteorology, the relentless soggy three-year long cycle of unhinged rain, mouldy mattresses and devastating flooding has finally, blessedly come to an end.
In BOM’s ‘Climate Driver Update’ report that they released on Tuesday, March 14, they stated that La Niña has finally ended in the tropical Pacific Ocean, and that the naughty El Niño–Southern Oscillation ‘ENSO’ weather pattern (that once caused us a month’s worth of rain in five days) is now neutral, with oceanic and atmospheric indicators having returned to neutral levels.
This being said, things aren’t always going to be one-hundred-per cent hunky dory. (That’s life, apparently). According to BOM, there’s no rest for the wicked, with them announcing an official ‘El Niño’ watch for 2023.
For those who aren’t familiar, El Niño is La Niña’s angry little brother, and the weather facts are stating that we have a hefty 50 per cent chance of him coming into town in all his searing, blistering heat this year. Known for bringing extremely dry and hot conditions to Australia, El Niño was responsible for the Black Summer bushfires on the east coast between 2019 and 2020. According to BOM’s averaging of international model forecasts, it looks like it’s possible that El Niño will be officially declared in August. All we can do is wait.
As such, today is bittersweet. But, if we’re living in the moment, it’s mostly sweet.
Put those brollies away, folks. It’s rooftop bar time.