[IG_Semmelweiss]

If you ever wonder what el nino /la nina means in terms of weather for your hemisphere, here is a heuristic:

La niña is the opposite of el Niño.

El niño (spanish - "the boy") is the name used by inhabitants of the area it hits the hardest, South America (mostly spanish speaking).

The western part of South America has its usual rainy season from late Dec to April.

The "el nino" boy is a reference to birth of Jesus. Chrstianity is the predominant faith in most of south america, so christmas is celebrated by all. Fishermen would thus say Jesus' birth brought extra "gifts" in the form of a stronger and longer rainy season, starting from late Dec.

So the the Spanish baby jesus boy brings brings miracle heat and rain upon his birth.

Invert the weather for la nina.

Now you you know what it means to you if you live in an affected area.

Edit - took out wrong statement about northern hemisphere

[paranoidrobot]

It's not really just northern/southern hemisphere. It's also linked to location.

Australia gets the opposite weather to South America for the cycle.

So for La Nina, it's dry in South America, but wet here in Australia.

[igitur]

In South Africa La Niña is also associated with a wetter season and El Niño with a dryer season.

[jsemrau]

That sentence was much more confusing to me than it should have because "wetter" in German means weather. Thought it was interesting.

[interestica]

Wetter and higher temps? (Le temps can mean 'weather' in French).

[dendrite9]

Didn't that work out in the last 2 cycles of La Niña? I read about drought in South Africa recently but I admittedly know nothing about weather patterns there.

[jmarneweck]

There are some towns and cities which are currently running out of water in the dams and are heading towards day zero (no water in taps). Cities like Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) are near day zero and a large portion of the Eastern Cape has been experiencing a drought from 2015 to 2020 and then from 2021 to current.

Water tankers are delivering water to various areas in Port Elizabeth as well as numerous smaller towns which have run out of water.

During Cape Town's water crisis we were queuing to collect water from the mountain spring that the local brewery graciously allowed us to collect water from.

National Geographic has an article about South Africa running out of water: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/partner-c...

[igitur]

Depends on which part of South Africa you're referring to. Cape Town (Western Cape) had a much publicised drought 2015-2018 [1], but that's been broken. This drought was partial attributed to El Niño.

At the moment dams in the Eastern Cape are empty [2]. My mother's taps in Gqeberha are on a trickle only. No idea whether (El|La) Niñ[ao] is responsible here, but maladministration of available water has also been mentioned.

In summary, in ZA we look forward to La Niña, so this article is good news for us.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town_water_crisis

2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/19/south-africa...

[dendrite9]

Thanks, I remember the Cape Town drought with the semi regular mention of Day Zero in articles. I recently read about another Day Zero in the Nelson Mandela Bay region and thought it was a continuation of the earlier drought. I didn't realize the distance and climate differences. Good luck to your mother.

[lamontcg]

This description is entirely missing its effects on eastern areas like the Philippines and Indonesia and the monsoon season in India, and cyclone formation over both the Atlantic and Pacific basins. Also misses the physical explanation as to if winds over the equatorial Pacific ocean are causing the water to turn over or not (and the associated pool of cool upwelling water off the coast of central/south America in normal / La Nina years).

[takeda]

Interesting, thanks.

If anyone is interested: "La niña" translates to "the girl" according to google translate (perhaps I saved someone extra clicks :)

[ainiriand]

Not a good translation, it is the kid (a female kid). Problem is that we (spanish speakers) have letters to define the gender of the noun. The girl would be 'la chica'.

[dmurray]

”Kid" vs "boy"/"girl" isn't well defined in English: I would say they both refer to people of the same ages. If what you mean by kid is a very young child, prefer "baby" or "infant".

[guhidalg]

Some countries would use “la niña” instead of “la chica”. It depends on where you’re from. (Source: native Spanish speaker)

[ainiriand]

El niño -> the kid.

El chico -> the boy.

[umanwizard]

What’s the difference between “boy” and “[male] kid” ?

[andrewnicolalde]

I’d say “el chico” translates more to “the lad”, but perhaps this is a matter of regional dialects.

[guhidalg]

There absolutely are regional differences with these particular words. People will understand if you use either one but they’ll know you’re not of that place if you use the less common one.