Marine heatwave over Pacific Ocean could lead to flooding in north-west

Severe 'blob' or marine heatwave can lead to increased inundation and wintery weather in eastern North America.

A marine heatwave known as a blob was especially severe this year in the north-western and central Pacific Ocean, which could lead in the coming months to increased flooding in the US Pacific north-west and especially wintery weather in eastern North America, according to climate scientists.

The temperature in August in the northern Pacific was 2.5C above preindustrial levels, according to Berkeley Earth, a non-profit that studies global warming.

That spike can lead to more thunder storms and affect marine species, according to Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist with Berkeley Earth.

"I kind of wonder, is this going to be a permanent feature?" said Nick Bond, a climatologist with the state of Washington and the University of Washington, who coined the term "blob" for the phenomenon.

Bond added: "A storm can come along and cool off the ocean some. You might have a sunny summer and it will warm up a little bit more than usual, so there are those kinds of fluctuations. But boy, what is out there in the central north Pacific? That is not going away anytime soon."

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