Hammerhead sharks by Eladio Arvelo via iStock for WMNF News.
FPREN | By Leslie Hudson
Across Florida lots of people head to the sand and surf. But as summer winds down, Fall shark migration is just beginning — and this year, it coincides with a strengthening El Niño.
We know El Niño can reshape our weather from thousands of miles away. but a powerful El Niño can also reshuffle life beneath the ocean’s surface — including where sharks travel. So could this massive climate pattern alter shark behavior right off Florida’s coast? The answer is more complicated than you might think. Florida Storms meteorologist Leslie Hudson explains the science behind what marine experts are calling “Shark Nino”.
Beyond the atmosphere, a powerful El Niño can reshuffle life beneath the ocean’s surface, creating a phenomenon marine experts call “Shark Niño.” While the tropical Pacific feels the most direct impact—often pushing sharks into new northern territories as they follow shifting food sources—Florida’s coast experiences a more subtle, yet significant, ripple effect. As a potentially historic El Niño strengthens this season, meteorologist Leslie Hudson explores how these distant climate patterns can delay migrations and alter the timing of when sharks arrive in Florida waters, proving that even the ocean’s apex predators are subject to the reach of global climate cycles.
And this year’s El Niño could provide scientists with an extraordinary natural experiment. NOAA says there’s a 95-percent chance El Niño becomes very strong this Fall, with a 69-percent chance it becomes stronger than most El Niños observed since 1950.
