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The 2014–2016 El Niño was the strongest
El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...
event on record, with unusually warm waters developing between the coast of
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
and the
International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is the line extending between the South and North Poles that is the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180.0° line of longitude and de ...
. These unusually warm waters influenced the world's weather in a number of ways, which in turn significantly affected various parts of the world. These included drought conditions in
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and a number of
Pacific islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...
while significant flooding was also recorded. During the event, more
tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
s than normal occurred within the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
, while fewer than normal occurred in the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
.


Meteorological progression

The 1997–1998 El Niño event was regarded as one of the strongest
El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...
events in recorded history, which resulted in widespread
drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
,
flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civi ...
and other
natural disaster A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by natural phenomenon or Hazard#Natural hazard, hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides ...
s occurring around the globe. Afterwards the climate of the Pacific Ocean was dominated by a cool phase of the Pacific decadal oscillation, with three significant
La Niña LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...
events occurring between 1998–2001, 2007–09 and 2010–12. Despite the La Niña background to the Pacific Climate, four El Niño events occurred during 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07, and 2009–10. The first three of these events were weaker, while the 2009-10 event was a strong El Niño, but had shorter effects than the 1997–98 event. After the 2010–12 La Niña event had ended, near-neutral conditions persisted over the Pacific Ocean with no La Niña or El Niño events occurring. An intense burst of
typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...
activity subsequently took place between September and November 2013, which was thought to possibly be a precursor signal to an impending change of the Pacific climate towards El Niño rather than La Niña. During January 2014, after surveying various climate models, the
World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...
warned that there was an enhanced possibility of a weak El Niño event happening during 2014. Over the next few months the climate of the Pacific Ocean started to exhibit features that suggested the impending onset of an El Niño event. Over the ocean, these features included: a rapid fall of the sea level in western
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...
, as well as a large area of enhanced
sea surface temperatures Sea surface temperature (or ocean surface temperature) is the ocean temperature, temperature of ocean water close to the surface. The exact meaning of ''surface'' varies in the literature and in practice. It is usually between and below the sea ...
that were present at low latitudes near the
International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is the line extending between the South and North Poles that is the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180.0° line of longitude and de ...
. In the atmosphere these features included persistent westerly winds at equatorial latitudes, which were displaced eastwards towards the
Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...
. A large area of
atmospheric convection Atmospheric convection is the vertical transport of heat and moisture in the atmosphere. It occurs when warmer, less dense air rises, while cooler, denser air sinks. This process is driven by parcel-environment instability, meaning that a "par ...
was present at a low latitude near the International Dateline, in association with the development of an unusual amount of early season
tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
s near the Marshall Islands. As a result of some of these conditions, an El Niño Watch was issued by the United States Climate Prediction Center (NOAA's CPC) and the
International Research Institute for Climate and Society {{Infobox organization , name = The Earth Institute , image = Ei blue1.gif , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , map2 = , type = , tax_id ...
within their March 2014 diagnostic discussion. Over the next few months, the atmosphere failed to respond in order to reinforce the developing El Niño, with the monsoon trough remaining weak and tropical cyclone activity slowing, while no episodes of strong westerly winds at a low latitude occurred. Some of the oceanic indicators of El Niño also failed to develop further, with a cooling of sea and sub surface temperatures over the tropical Pacific occurring. However, by the end of 2014, several of the El Niño indexes that were used to judge the state of the ENSO state, indicated that weak El Nino conditions had developed over the Pacific Ocean. As a result, a few of the international meteorological agencies, including the
Japan Meteorological Agency The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA; ''気象庁, Kishō-chō'') is a division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism dedicated to the Scientific, scientific observation and research of natural phenomena. Headquartered ...
and the
Hong Kong Observatory The Hong Kong Observatory is a weather forecast agency of the government of Hong Kong. The Observatory forecasts the weather and issues warnings on weather-related hazards. It also monitors and makes assessments on radiation levels in Hong ...
reported that an El Niño event had developed during 2014, while others such as the Fiji Meteorological Service considered 2014 to be a near miss. At this time it was thought that the ENSO state would continue to hover at the borderline El Nino conditions, before easing back into neutral ENSO conditions. After Typhoon Higos developed during February 2015, a new forecast scenario opened: El Niño might strengthen and persist through 2015. This scenario was supported by the same climate features that had predicted the weak El Niño developing during 2014. During their March 2015 diagnostic discussion, NOAA's CPC and the IRI reported that El Niño conditions had been observed during February 2015, after the above average sea surface temperatures had become weakly coupled with the tropical atmosphere. By January 2015, westerly wind burst activity picked up again. The first
Kelvin wave A Kelvin wave is a wave in the ocean, a large lake or the atmosphere that balances the Earth's Coriolis force against a topographic boundary such as a coastline, or a waveguide such as the equator. A feature of a Kelvin wave is that it is non-d ...
developed around March and another formed around May. In addition, another strong westerly wind burst event took place around July as a result of twin tropical cyclones straddling the equator. An even stronger event in October, and an unusually stronger event during late December 2015 into January 2016, also resulted from twin cyclones on opposite sides of the equator. In May 2015, the Australian
Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Government of Australia, Australian Government that is responsible for providing Weather forecasting, weather forecasts and Meteorology, meteorological services to Australia a ...
respectively confirmed the arrival of weak El Niño conditions. El Niño conditions were forecast in July to intensify into strong conditions by fall and winter of 2015. In addition to the warmer than normal waters generated by the El Niño conditions, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation was also creating persistently higher than normal sea surface temperatures in the northeastern Pacific. In August, the NOAA CPC predicted that the 2015 El Niño "could be among the strongest in the historical record dating back to 1950." In mid November, NOAA reported that the temperature anomaly in the Niño 3.4 region for the 3-month average from August to October 2015 was the 2nd warmest on record with only 1997 warmer. During November and December 2015, values within NOAA's Oceanic Niño Index peaked at , which surpassed December 1997 value of . NOAA subsequently reported that the 3-month average from November 2015 to January 2016 of the ONI had peaked at , which meant that the 2014–16 event was tied with the 1997–98 event for the strongest values on record. However, overall the event was considered to be one of the three strongest El Nino events since 1950, since there was a number of different ways to measure the strength of an event. The event subsequently started to weaken with sea surface temperature anomalies across the equatorial pacific decreasing, while predictions about a possible La Niña event taking place during 2016 started to be made. During May 2016, the El Niño event dissipated as near to below average sea surface temperatures, expanded across the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Atmospheric anomalies over the tropical Pacific Ocean had also weakened and become consistent with ENSO neutral conditions. These anomalies included the traditional and equatorial Southern Oscillation indices becoming near zero, while atmospheric convection, upper and lower level winds all became near average. As a result of this the BoM, NOAA's CPC, IRI, and the JMA, all declared that the record-tying El Niño event had ended in late May/early June.


Effects on tropical cyclone activity

The 2014–16 El Niño event influenced tropical cyclone activity around the world, where it contributed to record breaking seasons in the Central Pacific and Eastern Pacific tropical cyclone basins. By contrast, it limited
Atlantic hurricane An Atlantic hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone that forms in the Atlantic Ocean primarily between June and November. The terms "hurricane", "typhoon", and "cyclone, tropical cyclone" can be used interchangeably to describe this weather ph ...
activity, producing strong vertical wind shear, increased atmospheric stability, stronger sinking motion and drier air across the tropical Atlantic. The Central Pacific basin saw its most active tropical cyclone season on record with 16 tropical cyclones recorded during 2015. Within the Southern Hemisphere, the El Niño pushed tropical cyclone activity in the South Pacific Ocean eastwards, with activity flourishing near
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
,
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
and
Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
. As a result of this displacement and other factors such as a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, the 2015–16 Australian region cyclone season was the least active since reliable records started during 1950s, with only three named tropical cyclones developing in the region compared to an average of eleven. The event also contributed to six systems forming outside of the season boundaries, within the North Atlantic, Eastern and Southern Pacific basins. These systems included Tropical Cyclone Raquel, which was considered by some to be a part of both the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, but was later deemed to only be a part of the 2014–15 season. Tropical Depressions 01F and 02F developed in the South Pacific during July and October 2015, which affected Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. Tropical Depression Nine-C subsequently formed in the Central Pacific on 31 December, whose remnants in turn contributed to the development of Hurricane Pali on 7 January. This also caused the latest end and earliest start to the
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
and
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
Pacific hurricane seasons, respectively. Other significant tropical cyclones during the event included: Cyclone Pam, which became the second most intense tropical cyclone in the South Pacific in terms of
wind speed In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer. Wind spe ...
and devastated
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
; Cyclone Winston, was the most intense tropical cyclone in the Southern Hemisphere and devastated
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
; Cyclone Fantala, which was the strongest storm in terms of 1-minute and 10-minute sustained winds in the South Indian Ocean; and Hurricane Patricia, which was the second-most-intense tropical cyclone on record globally in terms of barometric pressure, and the strongest in terms of 1-minute sustained winds.


Impact

The El Niño event affected millions of people around the world, including in Africa, Central America, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. These effects included below or above-average rainfall, flooding, increased food insecurity, higher malnutrition rates and devastated livelihoods. The El Niño event also contributed to the Earth's warming trend, with 2014 and 2015 being two of the warmest years on record. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. Over 60 million people faced hunger and malnutrition in 2016 due to drought effects influenced by ENSO, with Africa worst hit, Indochina faced a severe drop in food production, and Ethiopia counted 10 million people at risk.


Australia

Over Australia, the drying influence of the event was initially counteracted by warm temperatures in the Indian Ocean, which lead to above average rainfall falling over parts of
Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
,
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and eastern Victoria. However, by the start of austral Spring 2015, the
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...
had started to help the El Niño, which resulted in Australia's third-driest spring on record and limited growth at the end of cropping season. The lack of heavy rains in the north and west meant reduced downtime for mining, while fewer clouds and less tropical rain, contributed to the most severe
coral bleaching Coral bleaching is the process when corals become white due to loss of Symbiosis, symbiotic algae and Photosynthesis, photosynthetic pigments. This loss of pigment can be caused by various stressors, such as changes in water temperature, light, ...
event on record for the
Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
. The combination of heat and low rainfall brought a very early start to the 2015–16 Australian bushfire season, with over 125 fires burning in Victoria and
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
during October. Dry conditions in Tasmania also resulted in hundreds of fires being started by
dry lightning A dry thunderstorm is a thunderstorm that produces thunder and lightning, but where all or most of its precipitation evaporates before reaching the ground. Dry lightning refers to lightning strikes occurring in this situation. Both are so common ...
during January 2016, which damaged large areas of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, including parts which may not have seen fire for centuries.


Africa

The El Niño event enhanced the 2015 short rains season between October and December 2015, with more rainfall than normal falling in eastern Africa. The 2014–2016 El-Niño phenomenon, according to the
World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...
, is one of the three strongest since 1950. A number of countries in Africa including
Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
,
Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...
and
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
declared national states of emergency, while the
Southern African Development Community The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Goals The SADC's goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and se ...
declared a regional drought disaster in March 2016.


North America

During the winter of 2014–2015, the typical precipitation and impacts of an El Niño event, did not occur over North America, as the event was weak and on the borderline of being an event. Both northern New York and lower Ontario in Canada received unprecedented snowfal early in the winter with Buffalo buried in 7' and Toronto in 3. Ahead of the 2015–16 winter, it was hoped that the El Niño would bring some relief from five years of drought conditions that had occurred in California. However, the event failed to end the long term dryness, despite some regions including Pacifica receiving heavy rain which led to mudslides. In the south eastern and south central United States above normal rainfall occurred, with Missouri receiving three times its normal rainfall during November and December 2015.


South America

Between September and December 2015, Northern South America was generally dry, with parts of Venezuela suffering from drought conditions. Over the same period Uruguay, southern Brazil, and Paraguay experienced a lot of rain. In 2015, the Southeast Region of
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
suffered the consequences of a severe drought (aggravated by El Niño), which led to above-average temperatures and a large decline in the level of several rivers and reservoirs; as a result, residents had to save water and cutoffs were made. However, at the same time, the South Region passed by a large period of severe thunderstorms (another consequence of El Niño), which led to strong floods; several rivers reached the highest level in decades and thousands of people were left homeless. The increased occurrence of fires in the southern Amazon Basin produced a significant increase in aerosol pollution over the Amazon rainforest.


Pacific Islands

During the event the Walker circulation and associated rainfall was shifted eastwards, which meant that a large part of the Pacific received below average rainfall. As a result, drought conditions were observed on several Pacific island nations, with an estimated 4.7 million people affected including people in Fiji, Micronesia, Palau, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and the
Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...
. During the event, tuna schools migrated away from their traditional waters near Papua New Guinea, to waters surrounding the island nation of
Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...
. As a result of this over of Tuna was caught in waters surrounding Kiribati during 2014, while the island nation was able to sell access rights to international fishing firms at over $15,000 a day. Projections were subsequently made by the Asian Development Bank that Kiribati, would earn over AUD 150 million (US$109 million) during 2015 from fishing licences. Researchers from the
NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...
also recorded coral cover losses of up to 90% at study sites on the island of
Kiritimati Kiritimati (), also known as Christmas Island, is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. The name is derived from the English word "Christmas" written in Gilbertese according to its phonol ...
(Christmas Island) after the 2015/16 El Niño event. As El Niño conditions started to develop during early 2014, sea levels in western
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...
including in waters surrounding the island nations of Palau and Guam dropped by . In Palau, the El Niño resulted in the worst drought conditions in nearly eighty years. The island nations of Palau, the
Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses the majority of the Caroline Islands (excluding Palau) and consists of four Admin ...
, and the
Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...
made emergency or disaster declarations, due to extreme drought conditions from the El Niño.


Southeastern Asia


Philippines

Within the Philippines, the El Niño event caused a delay in the onset of the 2015 rainy season, while causing weaker than normal monsoon activity, below average rainfall, fewer tropical cyclones and above average air temperatures. As a result of this 85% of the provinces were hit by drought conditions, while
PAGASA The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (, abbreviated as PAGASA , which means "hope" as in the Tagalog language, Tagalog word ''pag-asa'') is the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS ...
advised people to conserve water, in case the high water level of the Angat Dam fell below . During April 2016, the Philippine Department of Agriculture, estimated total damages to crops between February 2015 and March 2016, at just under
PhP PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared towards web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by the PHP Group. ...
 10 billion (US$217 million). In
Maguindanao Maguindanao (; Maguindanaon: ''Dairat nu Magindanaw''; Iranun: ''Perobinsia a Magindanao''; ) was a province of the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). From 2014 to 2022, its provincial capital ...
, many rice and corn fields were destroyed by the drought brought by El Niño, and soon, the provincial government declared a state of calamity in the province. Earlier, North Cotabato declared a state of calamity, and the provincial government's aid to the farmers suffering from the drought caused a protest and a clash with police in
Kidapawan Kidapawan, officially the City of Kidapawan (; ; Maguindanao language, Maguindanaon: ''Kuta nu Kidapawan''; Obo language, Obo Monuvu: ''Ingod to Kidapawan''; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and the capital ...
.
Iloilo Iloilo ( ; ), officially the Province of Iloilo (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...
, Guimaras,
General Santos General Santos, officially the City of General Santos and abbreviated as GenSan, is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Regions of the Philippines, region of Soccsksargen, Philippines. According to ...
, Isabela, Quirino,
Bukidnon Bukidnon (), officially the Province of Bukidnon (; ; ; Bukid language, Binukid and Higaonon language, Higaonon: ''Probinsya ta Bukidnon''), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Northern Mindan ...
,
Davao del Sur Davao del Sur (; ), officially the Province of Davao del Sur (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital is Digos. Davao City is the largest city in terms of area an ...
,
Basilan Basilan, officially the Province of Basilan (; ; ; ), is an island province of the Philippines located primarily in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. Basilan Island is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Sulu Archipelago ...
,
Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol (; ), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. It is home to Bohola ...
, and Cebu declared a state of calamity due to Typhoon Melor.


Vietnam

Cửu Long Droughts and saltwater infiltration were considered to be particularly serious, the worst within the last 100 years, causing severe damage to the western provinces.


United Kingdom

The winter of 2015–2016 brought serious floods, record rainfall and very mild temperatures across the UK. The Central England Temperature is a series of temperature data going back to 1659, the winter of 2015–2016 ranked as 2nd warmest, behind 1868–1869. The England and Wales Precipitation records go back to 1766, and 2015–16 was the 9th wettest winter on record. It is thought that this was caused by the strong
El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...
.


Notes


References


Further reading

* Danielle Claar - Marine Scientist who has studied the effects of the 2015/2016 El Niño on coral symbiosis and coral reef fish parasites. {{DEFAULTSORT:2015-2016 El Nino Event
El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...
El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...
El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...
El Niño-Southern Oscillation events
El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...
El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...
El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...