Strong El Niños are much more likely to be followed by a La Niña. The three strongest El Niños on record — in 1972, 1982 and 1997 — all transformed into La Niñas. The timing of La Niña's arrival is important to commodities markets as the weather phenomenon has vastly different effects on global climate than its warm counterpart, El Niño. read more
La Niña is a climate pattern that describes the cooling of surface ocean waters along the tropical west coast of South America. La Nina is considered to be the counterpart to El Nino, which is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean. read more