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El Nino and La Nina   What are El Nino and La Nina? El Nino - (El Nee-nyo) is the warming of water in the Pacific Ocean. La Nina - (Lah Nee-Nyah) is the cooling of water in the Pacific Ocean.

El Nino Weather	La Nina Weather
Rain and flooding along the Pacific coast Warm water disrupts food chain of fish, birds, and sea mammals Tornadoes and thunderstorms in southern US Fewer than normal hurricanes in the Atlantic	Snow and rain on the west coast Unusually cold weather in Alaska Unusually warm weather in the rest of the USA Drought in the southwest Higher than normal number of hurricanes in the Atlantic

Satellite Image of El Nino
	Years of El Nino 1902-1903 1905-1906 1911-1912 1914-1915 1918-1919 1923-1924 1925-1926 1930-1931 1932-1933 1939-1940 1941-1942 1951-1952 1953-1954 1957-1958 1965-1966 1969-1970 1972-1973 1976-1977 1982-1983 1986-1987 1991-1992 1994-1995 1997-1998 ????

Satellite Image of La Nina
	Years of La Nina 1904-1905 1909-1910 1910-1911 1915-1916 1917-1918 1924-1925 1928-1929 1938-1939 1950-1951 1955-1956 1956-1957 1964-1965 1970-1971 1971-1972 1973-1974 1975-1976 1988-1989 1995-1996 1998-1999 ????

Interesting Facts

• El Nino was first discovered hundreds of years ago by fishermen off the coast of Peru.
• El Nino means "Little Boy" and was named after the Christ child, because it usually starts around Christmas.
• El Nino is officially called ENSO - El Nino Southern Oscillation.
• La Nina means "Little Girl." It is also called El Viejo, which means "old man," or an ENSO cold event.
• La Nina occurs roughly half as often as El Nino
• El Nino and La Nina are the most powerful phenomenon on the earth and alter the climate across more than half the planet.
• El Nino may be caused by underwater volcanoes in the Pacific.