Ranking the Worst El Niños

This winter, the meteorological community has been buzzing about an extremely strong El Niño year. Some are concerned about the increased risk of floods and mudslides, while others hope the precipitation will help alleviate drought conditions.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines an El Niño event as “an oscillation of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific.” This means that unusually warm water from the Pacific Ocean meets cold winter air from the Northern hemisphere, resulting in increased precipitation in North America, particularly on the West Coast.

With experts predicting such a strong El Niño winter, WeatherDB wanted to look back and see how other El Niños affected the country. The rating is based off of NOAA’s Oceanic Niño Index, which takes into account the three-month average of equatorial sea surface temperature anomalies.

Using data from NOAA, WeatherDB ranked the five strongest El Niños since recording began in 1950 to see how different regions were affected around the globe, and what kind of damage El Niño causes.

*Note: The levels of precipitation that fell in Los Angeles County per each El Niño will be accompanied by rainfall data from Los Angeles for said year.