Record El Nino? Depends who's counting

Record El Niño? Depends who's counting

Britain's Met Office says this year's El Niño is "unprecedented." Japan's weather agency has called it the strongest ever observed. U.S. forecasters say it still trails the biggest events in its record books.

Record El Nino? Depends who's counting

How can they all be right? The answer lies in how they measure El Nino's strength, with meteorological agencies using different methods to assess the climate phenomenon that make direct comparisons difficult. "By any measure, we are looking at a very strong El Nino," climate scientist Emily Becker of the University of Miami told AFP, adding that only once it is over will scientists be able to assess how big it is and "where it fits in the conte…