10 Interesting Facts About El Niño

Contrary to what Chris Farley may have you believe, El Niño is more than just Spanish for “The Niño”.

El Niño is actually a semi-regular intervallic large scale warming of the Pacific Ocean. It occurs about every two to seven years and can last for nine months to two years. This year is an El Niño year, and its potential effects have a lot of people talking. Word on the street is that is that global warming will likely affect the intensity and frequency of both El Niño events.

Photo c/o Wikimedia Commons

Here are 10 interesting  facts about El Niño

1. This winter’s El Niño is predicted to be the strongest experienced in the past 50 years — it has been preemptively nicknamed “Godzilla El Niño”.
2. No two El Niños are exactly alike in intensity.
3. This phenomenon can cause droughts, flooding and colder, wetter winters in North America.
4. These events can last anywhere between nine months to several years.
5. El Niño is spanish for “Christ child”. It was named this because it usually appears in the winter, around what some people call the Christmas season.
6. It causes lots of disruption for sea creatures, and can be detrimental for fishermen and other professions that rely on marine life for livelihood.
7. El Niño has a counter climate change called La Niña. While El Niños occur when tropical Pacific waters are warmer than usual, La Niñas occur is when tropical Pacific waters are colder than usual.
8. Both El Niño and La Niña have the power to change 50% of the planet’s climates, making them the most powerful phenomena on earth.
9. It has been known to reduce the number of hurricanes over the Atlantic Ocean.
10. A strong El Niño is associated with flooding rains and warm weather in Peru, drought in Indonesia, Africa and Australia, heavy rain and mud sides in Southern California, milder winters in the Northeastern US, and fewer hurricanes in the Southeastern US.

While it is true that El Niño events are naturally occurring, they still provide yet another compelling reason for humankind to reduce its impact on the planet! Why? To ensure that we don’t push our earth past it’s natural limits. Join us in doing just this, by becoming an Ocean Guardian!

Written by Sarah Coburn