Publication: NPR

UCLA Expert: Daniel Swain: Assistant Researcher and Climate Specialist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: This year, something else is adding fuel to heat waves: the El Niño climate pattern. That seasonal shift makes global temperatures warmer, which could make 2023 the hottest year ever recorded. 

UCLA News: “Most of the world's population has experienced record-breaking heat in recent days,” Swain said. With El Niño just getting started this year, it's likely the full effect isn't being felt yet in heat waves or rainfall patterns. “That lag is because it takes some time for that extra heat near the surface of the ocean to actually make it into the atmosphere and be moved around by wind currents.” If the world continues emitting fossil fuels, these kinds of heat events are expected to become far more likely. “The long-term driver is human-caused climate change where we're sort of stair-stepping up along that inexorable upward trend. El Niño represents the exclamation point on that trend.”

Read more at NPR.