evidence: The climate pattern known as El Niño is heading for the exit, after a year when it helped drive global temperatures to new records. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say conditions will likely switch to a La Niña pattern by the end of the summer. El Niño is marked by warmer than normal ocean temperatures in the Eastern Pacific, where large amounts of heat are released to the atmosphere. It's why El Niño years are typically hotter than average. Paired with the warming caused by heat-trapping gasses from burning fossil fuels, 2023 ranked as the hottest year recorded. [...] The departure of El Niño doesn't mean 2024 will necessarily end the recent streak of record-breaking temperatures, with the last eight years having been the hottest on record.