As our planet warms, the future doesn’t necessarily look like our past.  But this doesn’t mean that there aren’t analogs for the future in the past.  In this Planette weather webinar, we consider the remarkable events of 2013 through 2016, and its implications for the weather outlook over 2026 and beyond.  In 2013-14, a huge marine heatwave, known as The Blob, spread across the northwest Pacific Ocean, bringing extraordinary ocean temperatures to fisheries from Baja California to Alaska, and unusual weather patterns to North America.  Neutral conditions in the tropical Pacific, combined with a negative QBO, led to an extraordinary winter, rife with a weak polar vortex, cold snaps, and energy market volatility.  But as The Blob dissipated in 2015, an enormous super El Niño, leading to soaring global temperatures and major weather impacts on both sides of the Pacific, from Asia and Oceania to the Americas.  

While the events of 2013 to 2016 were extraordinary, there are some interesting parallels to what we see today: a heatwave in the N Pacific, a volatile winter, and a near-neutral tropical Pacific.  We review both similarities and differences between today and events of the past to arrive at some insights on what weather 2026 has in store.  Register here.