You've probably heard someone explain a sudden change in the weather: “it's El Niño's fault”, “this time it's La Niña's fault”. So it's time to understand what these expressions mean.
Both El Niño and La Niña are expressions taken from Spanish (meaning “the boy” and “the girl”) to designate some climatic anomalies that happen on the planet.
O El Niño is a climatic anomaly caused by the warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean in the region near Peru. It happens, on average, twice every ten years and lasts 18 months.
The consequences of El Niño are several: it alters marine life in the Pacific Ocean, increases rainfall in South America and in part of the United States, intensifies droughts in Northeast Brazil, causes strong storms in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, among others consequences.
El Niño explanatory scheme
This name was chosen because fishermen on the coast of Peru realized that the warming of ocean waters always happened at Christmas time. Thus, they chose this name in reference to the Infant Jesus (Niño Jesus, in Spanish).
When El Niño ends, usually, another phenomenon called La Niña appears soon after, as it is exactly the opposite of El Niño.
O La Niña it is also a climatic anomaly characterized by causing the opposite effect of El Niño and it happens because the waters of oceans that are deeper (and cooler) go to the surface and cool what El Niño had warmed up. It usually lasts for about nine months.
During La Niña there are also several effects: the Midwest region of Brazil gets colder for a quick period, it rains a lot in the Northeast, summer gets colder, Paraguay gets a dry climate, temperatures in Australia get much higher and rains in the Caribbean increase.
El Niño and La Niña are climatic phenomena that have serious consequences around the world. Its effects are not only climatic, but also economic, because when it rains too much in one place and too little in others, agriculture can end up being harmed.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
