El Niño and La Niña Explained
Will your winter be colder this year? It all depends on the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
We often say that climate change is the main reason for hot summers, cold winters, and harsh weather changes. However, there are some natural phenomena as well that could eventually affect the weather around the world. El Niño and La Niña: the ocean-atmosphere interactions that have been happening naturally over the centuries and affecting our weather. So, what are they?
Normally, in the Pacific Ocean, trade winds blow from east to west, South of America to Asia — this means the warm water moves from east to west. Eventually, the cold water from the ocean is pushed along with it. However, El Niño and La Niña break these normal conditions and affect the weather pattern.
El Niño is when the trade winds get weaker, and warm water which was moved from east to west due to strong trade winds, get pushed back to the east. This means the weather across the two opposite directions/sites will be affected and will be warmer, and drier than usual.
