🛰️ Pacific Atmospheric River Moisture Transport (GOES-West Vapor)
Tracks tropical moisture plumes ("Pineapple Express" atmospheric rivers) streaming from the equatorial Pacific toward Southern California.
GOES-18 Band 8 (Upper Vapor)
🌊 Equatorial Sea Surface Temp (SST) Anomalies (NOAA CPC)
Illustrates the classic "El Niño tongue" of anomalously warm surface water expanding across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Live NOAA CPC Analysis
Educational Deep-Dive
What Exactly is El Niño & ENSO?
El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a periodic climate phenomenon driven by the interaction between the Pacific Ocean and the atmosphere. Under normal conditions, strong easterly trade winds blow surface water toward Asia, causing nutrient-rich cold water to upwell along the California and South American coasts.
During an El Niño event, these trade winds collapse or even reverse. Warm surface water sloshes eastward toward the Americas, capping oceanic upwelling and dramatically altering global atmospheric circulation. For Southern California, this massive pool of equatorial heat frequently acts as an atmospheric steering wheel, pulling the North Pacific Jet Stream southward and aiming a conveyor belt of moisture directly at our coastline.