China's National Climate Center says equatorial central-eastern Pacific sea
surface temperatures entered El Niño in May. The event is expected to develop
into a moderate-or-strong El Niño in summer–autumn and peak in autumn–winter,
with rising odds of a strong event; it is likely to decay by next spring. El
Niño is in a rapid development phase this spring–summer and the atmosphere is
responding markedly, favoring a strengthened northwest Pacific subtropical high
that will steer increased moisture into China, especially boosting rainfall
south of the Yangtze River, while much of the country will see temperatures
above normal.
