More and more resources were brought to bear on the phenomenon, and scientists continued to collect data and document the weather. It wasn't until the advent of high speed computers, though, that the complex interactions and massive amounts of data could be put together to provide a really clear picture of the phenomenon.

Even so, the 1982-83 El Niño, widely recognized as the most severe of the 20th century, caught scientists by surprise. Unlike the El Niños of the previous three decades, it was not preceded by a period of stronger than normal easterlies on the equator, and it took place later in the calendar year than usual.

The good news from the scientific point of view, even though it wasn't recognized as an El Niño until it was half over, was that it created effects on the climate that couldn't be missed. North America experienced wildly unusual weather throughout 1983, Australia experienced massive drought and devastating bushfires; it was one of the worst periods for drought in the sub-Sahelian countries and the monsoons failed in the Indian Ocean. Total damages were estimated at somewhere between $8 billion and $13 billion and 2,000 lives were lost. It caught the weatherman's attention, so to speak.

After the 1982-83 humdinger, there was a minor respite, followed by El Niños in 1986-1987, and in an unusual break with tradition, 1990 to mid-1995, the longest in 130 years of recordkeeping. In 1988-1989, there was a La Niña, which occurs after some (but not all) El Niño years.