National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Severe Thunderstorms for Mid-Atlantic and Northeast; Typhoon Approaching Guam

A cold front will sweep eastward today accompanied by strong to severe thunderstorms for the mid-Atlantic and Northeast today. In the wake of this cold front, autumn like temperatures and gusty winds from the Plains, Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes to most of the eastern seaboard. Fire weather conditions for lower Mississippi Valley into portions of California. For Guam, a typhoon is approaching. Read More >

ENSO Indices

 

ENSO Regions

 

Southern Oscillation Index (SOI)
standardized anomaly of the mean sea level pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin

  • traditional ENSO index

  • correlates strongly with SST anomaly indices


NOAA Oceanic Niño Index (ONI)
sea surface temperature anomaly index for Niño 3.4 (5°N to 5°S, 170°W to 120°W)

  • onset of El Niño declared when Niño 3.4 anomaly exceeds +0.5°C for 3-month period

  • to be "full-fledged" El Niño (or La Niña), onset conditions must be met for 5 consecutive 3-month periods


Japanese Meteorological Agency ENSO Index (JMA)
sea surface temperature anomaly index for Niño 3 (4°N to 4°S, 150°W to 90°W)

  • less noisy than traditional SOI and more vigorous than NOAA ONI

  • anomalies must exceed 0.5°C for 6 consecutive 5-month periods


Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI)
weighted anomaly average of 6 meteorological variables in the tropical Pacific

  • sea surface temperature

  • sea level pressure

  • surface air temperature

  • components of surface wind

    • zonal component

    • meridional component

  • total cloudiness fraction of the sky