Australian scientists identify signal predicting El Nino and La Nina
Big news for weather watchers: scientists identified a climate signal that could help predict El Nino and La Nina events up to a year in advance.
This could eventually strengthen early-warning systems and allow earlier preparation for weather extremes.
The breakthrough comes from a team at CSIRO and the University of Melbourne, who dug into thousands of past forecasts to make this happen.
Forecasts most accurate during La Nina
Turns out, the starting state of the Pacific Ocean makes all the difference: predictions are most accurate when La Nina is already underway, but less so if things look neutral state.
The researchers also think machine learning could help fill in those gaps, though they're still testing it out.
If it works, we could get even better heads-up about wild weather before it hits.