The Pacific's Climate Wild Card

El Niño may begin as a patch of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean, but its effects can be felt across the globe. In this episode of Sanity Check, David R. Legates explores one of the most powerful climate phenomena on Earth and explains why forecasters are closely watching the possibility of a particularly strong El Niño developing in the months ahead. What exactly is El Niño? Why are scientists watching the Pacific Ocean so closely this year? And how can changing ocean temperatures n...