In 2014, marine scientists began noticing an anomaly submerged in the Pacific Ocean – a mass of unusually warm water, which was later dubbed “The Blob.”
And it appears the phenomenon has returned, ahead of a (potential) “Super” El Niño, with not one, but two massive abnormally warm water patches in the Pacific Ocean. And one of them has broken records as being the biggest ever recorded.
Below, The Washington Post shows an animation of the marine heatwave – which they’re calling a “freight train of record-warm water” – and its possible impacts.
The scientists over at NOAA are monitoring the heatwaves, too. Per a May 19th report:
“We are currently tracking two large marine heatwaves in the Northeast Pacific region (Fig. 1, Fig. 2). The first one, denoted NEP25A, is located near the coast off central and southern California, whereas the second one, denoted NEP26A, is to the far west of the region and between 37-47°N latitude. NEP25A has been a contiguous feature that we have tracked since May of 2025 (hence its name, NEP25A, which denotes it as the first large MHW tracked starting in 2025); NEP26A only recently developed in the offshore region.”
As for the first one mentioned, it’s exceptionally big. NOAA continued:
“NEP25A reached a maximum size of ~10 Million km^2 on Sept. 10, 2025 (Fig. 3b, Fig. 4), setting a record for largest maximum area for a marine heatwave within the Northeast Pacific region analyzed here (area shown in Fig. 1) since monitoring began in 1982.”
Related: Millions Died from the Super El Niño in 1877. What Will Happen This Time?
So, what does this all mean? Well, from the infamous Blob of 2014, the warmer water had a major impact on marine wildlife, involving toxic algae blooms. There were huge die-offs of seabirds, starved sea lions washing up on beaches, and more.
NOAA’s latest El Niño prediction is as follows: “El Niño is likely to emerge soon (82% chance in May-July 2026) and continue through Northern Hemisphere winter 2026-27 (96% chance in December 2026-February 2027).”
Unlike other meteorologists or weather agencies out there, they’ve been fairly conservative as to what’s coming later this year and into next regarding El Niño.
However, they stated: “Current coastal sea surface temperatures (SST) off California are among the warmest ever seen for this time of year, rivaled only by the wintertime anomalies seen during the strongest El Niño on record during 1997-1998, and the ‘Warm Blob’ years of 2014-2015.”
Stay tuned. Things could get interesting in the coming months.
Related: Marine Heatwave ‘The Blob’ Continues Record-Breaking Chaos off West Coast
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