El Niño & La Niña
El Niño & La Niña are weather phenomena's that can occur during the springtime but have the power to influence hurricane season. They are weather phases that occur in the tropical and oceanic waters of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans that can affect weather in the United States. El Niño & La Niña are the warm and cool phases of a recurring climate pattern with the power to change the climate on the earth.
El Niño is the increasingly warming of surface waters of the Pacific Ocean that occur unpredictably every 2-7 years. As the costal waters warm the atmospheric pressure decreases leading to an increase in rainfall that results in flooding in some areas and droughts in others. El Niño occurrences also increase hurricane activity in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
La Niña is the opposite of El Niño as it is the cooling of surface waters of the Pacific Ocean that occurs every 3-5 years. With costal waters cooling the atmospheric temperatures are much drier causing intense storms in some areas, droughts in others and can strongly impact winter months. La Niña phases can result in an increase in hurricane activity in the Atlantic.
