El Niño can cause droughts, floods, crop failures, and food shortages in some regions, while Arizonans embrace the wetter winters it brings.
Typically, El Niño winters bring storms to California and the Southwestern United States due to a stronger jet stream north of the equator
The Pacific Jet Stream was pushed north of its regular El Niño configuration this year.
El Niño has caused record-wetting in Seattle and improved ski conditions in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.
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The warm phase of ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) is characterized by periodic variations in winds and sea surface temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean
Super El Niño episodes in 1972-73, 1982-83, and 1997-98 caused record global temperatures, droughts, floods, and forest fires.
The majority of climate models predict a 2015/2016 El Niño of similar strength to 1997/1998.
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