13th May - Today's News: No, El Nino Does NOT Mean Cold Winter on the Way

In NZ, Queenstown and Wanaka face flood threat as heavy rain, snow continues

Kenya floods: deadly mosque wall collapse in Nairobi

Nepal earthquake: rescue resumes after deadly tremor - the death toll from yesterday's quake is under a hundred, including 17 in India, as unsettled Earth continues to rattle Nepal and monsoon rains pose risk of more landlsides after powerful second quake

Taiwan lifts water rationing as rains from Typhoon Noul ease drought

Heat wave warning for Spain whilst Portugal temperature record set to be broken with today likely the hottest May day ever in Iberia

Astronaut captures massive lightning storm from ISS

And whilst they weren't the only ones peddling this nonsense, the Express of course had the worst of the headlines, asserting incorrectly that rare weather phenomenon 'El Nino' to spark worst winter in Britain for years.  There is no firm correlation between ENSO and the climate in Britain, though it may be one of a great many factors that influence it.  All we know is that cold winters can occur when there is an El Nino (2009-10) or La Nina (2010-11) or, indeed, when ENSO is neutral.   And it's not at all rare ....    But don't worry, we'll all be dead long before than as Nathan Rao (no doubt piqued that he didn't get to write the weather story) warns us that an asteroid a mile wide to hurtle past Earth in 48 hours as experts warn of mass extinction.   It has, of course, no chance of hitting the Earth and we see many pass by much closer every year.   And there are millions more that would equally cause a mass extinction is they hit us.