The following is an encore presentation of everything everywhere daily.

Weather systems on Earth aren't stable.

There are cycles that weather patterns go through which can have enormous effects around the globe.

And there is probably no more important weather cycle than the one meteorologists have called the southern oscillation.

This cycle can have dramatic implications for temperatures and rainfall all over the world.

Learn more about El Nino, L'Anina, and the Southern Ocellation on this episode of Everything

Everywhere Daily. The El Nino phenomenon was originally named by Peruvian fishermen back in the 17th century. They notice that sometimes

the waters would often get warmer around Christmas time. They name this effect

El Nino, which means little boy in Spanish. When capitalized, El Nino refers to the Christ child and it gets its name

from the fact that it happened at Christmas. In the 1930s a meteorologist by the name

of Sir Gilbert Walker realized that a meteorological phenomenon called the southern

oscillation always occurred with what the locals called El Nino.

To understand what happens during an El Nino, it's necessary to understand the circulation of water in the Pacific Ocean.

Under normal conditions, cold water will come up to the surface off the western coast of South America.

This cold water is great for fishing as it brings up nutrients and plankton and it's one of the reasons why the Pacific waters off of South America are so good for fishing.

This cold water begins to warm up as it reaches the surface and it is transported roughly along the equator towards Asia and Australia.

Along the way, the heat of the sun and the Pacific Ocean warms this water and it's one of the reasons why parts of Asia

along the same latitude such as Indonesia are so hot. This current will then take the

warm water down the eastern coast of Australia, down to Antarctica world will work its way back to South America

and start all over again.

This is how it normally works.

Ocean currents can change, however.

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