Where does this name come from
El Nino, or the Child, was the name originally given by local inhabitants to a weak warm ocean current flowing southwards along the coast of Ecuador and Peru around Christmas - the same time of year as the child 'Jesus'.

  Everything is blamed on El Nino
El Nino is blamed regularly for lots of unusual weather events around the world but it can take many months before scientists and meteorologists can be confident that it really is an El Nino year. Extreme El Nino events are known to have serious effects on fisheries, bird life and mainland weather.