El Niño: Ocean's Impact on Global Weather

A patch of warm water in the Pacific Ocean is the reason your weather is so weird.

It’s called El Niño. Normally, winds push warm water west, letting cold,

nutrient-rich water rise up along South America—a process called upwelling, which is great for

fish. But during El Niño, those winds get lazy. The warm water sloshes

back east, stopping the upwelling and devastating fisheries. This shift messes

with everything, bringing torrential rain and floods to Peru while causing severe droughts

in Australia and Indonesia. So yeah, the ocean's mood swings can totally

change your world.