This El Niño could rival the strongest on record

Heavy floods in Argentina have been attributed to El Nino

(Image credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

published 30 December 2015

El Niño is showing no signs of weakening, prompting NASA to warn that the 1997-1998 El Niño might soon have a rival as the strongest ever on record. The weather phenomenon, which Discovery News reports brings about a shift in climate patterns caused by the "sloshing of warm ocean water from its normal home in the western tropical Pacific to the east," so ubiquitously affected the U.S. in the late '90s that it gained household name recognition.

NASA says that that this December's El Niño bears a "striking resemblance" to the "Granddaddy of El Niños" that was brewing in December of 1997. The winter of 1997-98 similarly produced "intense ice and snow storms, flooding, and even some unlikely tornado landings," and unrelenting rain in California that caused mudslides resulting in "hundreds of millions of dollars in damages."

Already in 2015, the weather phenomenon that occurs every two to seven years has caused some of the worst flooding in 50 years in Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. At least 13 people in the U.S. have died in floods caused by tornadoes and storms. In Africa, 31 million people are facing potential food shortages caused by droughts, and in the North Pole, temperatures are expected to be 50 degrees higher than usual.