The 2020–2023 La Niña event was a rare three-year, triple-dip La Niña. The impact of the event led to numerous natural disasters that were either sparked or fueled by the La Niña.
La Niña refers to the reduction in the temperature of the ocean surface across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, accompanied by notable changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation. This includes alterations in wind patterns, pressure, and rainfall.
The cold phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), known as La Niña, typically produces contrasting effects on weather and climate compared to El Niño, which is the warm phase of the same phenomenon.
Meteorological progression
Starting in 2020, the Pacific was in a ENSO-neutral condition that started in mid-2019, with no El Niño or La Niña occurring. On July 2020, various meteorological agencies declared La Niña conditions in the Pacific after observed cooling in the Niño 3.4 region. The first peak of the event occurred in late-2020, and the La Niña conditions soon decayed in March 2021, as ENSO-neutral was declared in the Pacific. The Niño 3.4 index hovered just below...