# So, How's Our Buddy, El Nino, Doing?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 11, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508 "2010-02-11T00:46:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/1 "2010-02-11T00:46:17Z")
I haven’t heard about El Nino in ages. Is anyone talking El Nino lately? If so, what’s the deal? (Or, will they just fudge the data to fit the evidence?)
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/2 "2010-02-11T01:03:45Z")
Well, there’s all the blizzards and snow in the Northeast, a drought in the Northwest, the freezing temperatures inn the Southeast earlier this winter and crap just about everywhere else.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/3 "2010-02-11T01:07:05Z")
> [@Jinx](#):
>
> I haven’t heard about El Nino in ages. Is anyone talking El Nino lately? If so, what’s the deal?
This year there is a significant [El Nino](http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.pdf)in progress, according to the website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I’ve already noticed the typical effects here in Panama due to reports of species of seabirds displaced north from their normal range in the Galapagos.
> [@](#):
>
> (Or, will they just fudge the data to fit the evidence?)
Not sure what you mean by this. The data on sea surface anomalies is publicly posted on NOAA’s and other websites. The indications of El Nino can be seen by anyone who knows what to look for. This is like asking if they are going to fudge the data to indicate that it’s raining while a thunderstorm is going on.
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### Author:  [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/4 "2010-02-11T01:11:52Z")
Well we’re certainly talking about it here in [San Francisco](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/21/MNIP1BKRP1.DTL).
> [@](#):
>
> Miserable commutes, howling winds, flooding streams, closed schools - this week’s storms have had all the nasty punishments the famed weather pattern was supposed to bring…
Also in [Washington, D.C.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2010/02/09/DI2010020901127.html)
> [@](#):
>
> …the snowy winter is related to the interplay between the moderate El Nino feeding in tropical moisture and a blocking pattern in the atmosphere over Greenland which has been bottling up cold air over eastern North America.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/5 "2010-02-11T01:16:17Z")
Google News gives [10,840](http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=%22el+nino%22) current news stories on “El Nino.”
You’d think you’d have to go far out of your way not to heard of it. A little like saying you haven’t heard of Barack Obama in years.
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### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/6 "2010-02-11T01:19:05Z")
It is an El Nino year right now. Warm, weather in the Northwest, storms in California. They are trucking in snow for the winter Olympics in BC to make some of the events, because of warm wet weather.
[http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20090709\_elnino.html](http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20090709_elnino.html)
It goes in cycles of a couple of years. When it is not an El Nino weather pattern, it is a La Nina pattern. It is always either El Nino or La Nina.
What has disappeared is the over reporting, sensationalism, on the evening news of El Nino as some rare phenomenon.
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### Author:  [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/7 "2010-02-11T01:22:17Z")
We get an almost nightly dose on the weather forecasts here in SE Oklahoma. Split jetstream funneling storm after storm across Calif. coast direct west to east. Lots of extra moisture in our area. Weather folks call it a classic manifestation of an El Nino.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/8 "2010-02-11T02:30:57Z")
What has also happened is that while there have been regular El Nino events in the last decade, none have been as strong as the massive El Nino in 1998, the strongest on record. That did cause some rather extreme weather anomalies throughout much of the world, and helped to bring the phenomenon to public notice.
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/9 "2010-02-11T02:54:25Z")
Last Saturday, while Wasshington D.C. was getting slammed with feet of snow, people in Denver and Boulder were playing golf on clear fairways in 50° weather.
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### Author:  [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/10 "2010-02-11T03:04:15Z")
> [@ghardester](#):
>
> When it is not an El Nino weather pattern, it is a La Nina pattern. It is always either El Nino or La Nina.
This is false. Yes, El Niño and La Niña are not particularly rare, and yes, they are opposites of each other, but they are considered to be two extremes, and middle ground does exist. It can certainly be neither.
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### Author:  [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/11 "2010-02-11T03:10:21Z")
> [@BorgHunter](#):
>
> This is false. Yes, El Niño and La Niña are not particularly rare, and yes, they are opposites of each other, but they are considered to be two extremes, and middle ground does exist. It can certainly be neither.
Correct, in fact the very definitions of these conditions or events are predicated upon recorded readings departing significantly from average readings.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/12 "2010-02-11T04:18:08Z")
One pet peeve I will have to deal here:
Please stop making fun of El Nino as if it was a Mexican little kid!
Sorry, as I said, it was a pet peeve.
There was an old ad I heard on the radio when I lived in California that had an El Nino talking to Jack Frost and they commented on the weather and sold something. Not complaining much about the stereotypical accented funny voice that they gave El Nino, but please do your research media guys:
El Niño refers to baby Jesus, that is: Jesus Christ.
[http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/elnino.asp](http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/elnino.asp)
> [@](#):
>
> Why is it called El Niño?
>
> Fishermen off the west coast of South America were the first to notice appearances of unusually warm water that occurred at year’s end. The phenomenon became known as El Niño because of its tendency to occur around Christmas time. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy child” and is named after the baby Jesus.
So, if you media people want to continue making fun of it, be aware about what you are making fun of.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/13 "2010-02-11T04:30:59Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#):
>
> Please stop making fun of El Nino as if it was a Mexican little kid!
>
> …
>
> Not complaining much about the stereotypical accented funny voice that they gave El Nino, but please do your research media guys:
>
> El Niño refers to baby Jesus, that is: Jesus Christ.
So El Nino should have a Jewish accent, then?
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/14 "2010-02-11T04:36:55Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> So El Nino should have a Jewish accent, then?
Oy!
🙂
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/15 "2010-02-12T06:03:19Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#):
>
> One pet peeve I will have to deal here:
>
> Please stop making fun of El Nino as if it was a Mexican little kid!..
>
> So, if you media people want to continue making fun of it, be aware about what you are making fun of.
So who is La Niña then?
The answer is the same as El Niño. No the Baby Jesus, not even the time around Christmas. Not a person at all. Just a metaphor. And metaphor can be anthropomorphized.
Nobody here or in the media is doing anything wrong. The language has evolved and a new meaning is the new norm.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/16 "2010-02-12T08:41:04Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Google News gives [10,840](http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=%22el+nino%22) current news stories on “El Nino.”
>
> You’d think you’d have to go far out of your way not to heard of it. A little like saying you haven’t heard of Barack Obama in years.
Naw, they’re too busy talking about Snowmageddon to let us know it’s a natural weather phenomenon.
But, then again, I don’t watch the news. And since the first time I heard of El Nino was back in 2002-03, I thought it always meant less snow, not more.
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/17 "2010-02-12T13:38:57Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> Naw, they’re too busy talking about Snowmageddon to let us know it’s a natural weather phenomenon.
>
> But, then again, I don’t watch the news. And since the first time I heard of El Nino was back in 2002-03, I thought it always meant less snow, not more.
Eastern North America’s weather is affected more by the [North Atlantic Oscillation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_oscillation) than it is by El Nino.
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### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/18 "2010-02-12T16:04:50Z")
Also in Washington, D.C.
Quote:
…the snowy winter is related to the interplay between the moderate El Nino feeding in tropical moisture and a blocking pattern in the atmosphere over Greenland which has been bottling up cold air over eastern North America.
Actually, because the Saints won the Superbowl, Hell (aka, Washington DC) has frozen over.
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### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/19 "2010-02-12T16:17:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> What has also happened is that while there have been regular El Nino events in the last decade, none have been as strong as the massive El Nino in 1998, the strongest on record. That did cause some rather extreme weather anomalies throughout much of the world, and helped to bring the phenomenon to public notice.
I LOVED that year! We got so much rain it was ridiculous! I was out playing everyday! 😃
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-hows-our-buddy-el-nino-doing/528508/20 "2010-02-12T17:17:57Z")
> [@AWB](#):
>
> Also in Washington, D.C.
> Quote:
> …the snowy winter is related to the interplay between the moderate El Nino feeding in tropical moisture and a blocking pattern in the atmosphere over Greenland which has been bottling up cold air over eastern North America.
The blocking pattern over Greenland is related to the North Atlantic Oscillation. When the NAO index is low, as it is now, such blocking patterns tend to form.
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