Colombia declares official start of El Niño, warns of strong impacts : Colombia’s meteorological institute IDEAM officially declared the arrival of El Niño, and warned that the climate phenomenon could trigger water shortages and forest fires. In a press statement, the IDEAM said that its “confirmation reflects the sustained warm conditions in the Pacific Ocean, which, according to the latest measurement, broke records, reaching a sea surface temperature anomaly of +3.49°C.” The meteorological institute said it expected that this year’s “Godzilla El Niño” could continue to disrupt local climate patterns until March next year. Initially, the weather phenomenon is expected to reduce rainfall between October and December, which is normally the rainy season in large parts of the country. “Given this situation, and in light of the alerts issued since the beginning of the year, the national government launched an interagency response,.. with specific instructions for the resp...
