WEBVTT - How El Nino Works 0:00:01.240 --> 0:00:04.720 Welcome to Stuff you should know from house Stuff Works 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:13.480 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:16.680 There's Charles w Chuck Bryant and Jerry's over there, and 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:22.279 we got this guy. I am El Nino Tall other 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:30.440 tropical storms must bow before Nino. Po si nno. But 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:35.519 those of you who don't have la espanio, El Nino 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:43.120 is Spanish for Nino. That was the late great Chris 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:49.400 Farley on Saturday Live back in the winter early spring 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.520 of when all anyone can talk about was El Nino. Yeah. 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.400 I thought you were going to select to play. Uh 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:01.320 wave of mutilation by the Pixies. Is that about? Uh, 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.200 it's in the It's in the lyric of Kiss, Mermaids 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.760 Road Deal Nino walk the sands with the crustaceans. I 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.639 never realized that's what he was saying. Yeah, but writing 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:14.240 Neilno as sort of as you'll see, it's not a 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.000 way it's wrong. Black Francis, you know you were wrong, Charles. 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:23.160 Can we call him Charles Frank, But in the Pixies 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.440 he was black Francis. Yeah, he's back to black. Yeah Frank, 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:31.080 black black Frank, black man. I saw him in Uh, 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.360 that you and I are both lifelong Pixies fans, obviously, 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:38.720 but I saw him do a solo show. Uh. May 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.320 have been with the Catholics, even in a tiny little 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:43.759 bar in l A when I lived there and there 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.440 were I couldn't figure it out they were. I mean, 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:50.560 it's not like seventy people. I was like, why are 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.760 you playing here? And why aren't there a thousand other 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.280 people trying to get in here illegally? And he you know, 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.160 he's eight feet in front of me. Well, I mean 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:03.240 the Catholics were okay, but oh man, those albums are great. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.720 Not door busting great. Oh I think that the Catholics 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:12.720 albums are really good. I like just playing numbers. Well, okay, 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:20.080 you know anyway, great show. Rode, Yeah, I know exactly 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.760 the line you're talking about. But I never realized Rode Nino. 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:28.120 He pronounces things oddly. Maybe he thought he yeah, I 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:30.480 don't know, I think that it was like Nino or 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.560 something like that. Or maybe he didn't mean the weather phenomenon. 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.280 Maybe he meant he got on the back of a 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.079 small boy and wrote around or the course or the 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:42.440 christ Child. Maybe because if you live in Spain or 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:47.000 Spanish speaking country, and you turn on say the weather channel. Uh, 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:50.480 they will say things like, well, the christ Child is 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:52.959 going to be way worse than the last time the 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:56.280 christ Child came around. That's what they say. Because El Nino, 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:00.480 we should say, when it's capitalized means the cry child, 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:02.679 that's right. If it's lower case, it just means the 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:08.360 boy in Spanish, but uppercase the baby Jesus. Yeah, and uh, 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.960 I never knew this until we researched this. Uh In Peru, 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.320 the Spanish colonizers coined that term when they discovered this 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:22.000 phenomenon themselves around Christmas. So how about that? Yeah, it 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.519 was pretty cool, I guess. And we should mention historically 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:31.919 this is nothing new. Uh No, they written records date 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:37.040 back to fifty and again of course, and there are 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:42.160 there's geological evidence that dates it back possibly if you 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:46.600 like Harvard Science as much as uh A hundred and 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:50.000 twenty four thousand years, because some scientists there are one 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:55.720 in particular examined annual deposits on Indonesian coral and said, hey, 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.360 I think this is this coral looks like it was 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.640 affected by El Nino d and four thousand years like 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.560 they I also saw they found evidence that um a 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:11.040 very early um Peruvian culture collapsed because of the climate 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.720 change brought about by El Nio. Interesting based on some 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:18.479 like the disappearance of some certain mollusk varieties. Yeah, pretty 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:21.160 cool stuff. So nothing new. We should probably tell people 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:23.240 if you don't know what El Nino is, what el 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.840 Nino is? Do you want see? Sure? I do like 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:29.720 I do with lots of things that don't understand. I 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:33.040 go to kids science websites. Yeah. I found one and said, 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.600 I was like, huh. I was reading this article three 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:37.960 times and I got to the bottom and it said 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.360 fifth grade Earth Science module. I was like, man, it 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:43.960 really helps. Uh. And that's just a tip from us 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:46.560 to you if you're a dumb adult, and then go 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:51.680 look to kids websites fifth grade about right there. Alright, 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:56.120 So here's the deal. Temperatures world Global temperatures depend a 0:04:56.160 --> 0:05:00.480 lot on the ocean. Uh. Weather period. It depends a 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.000 lot on the temperature of the oceans. So if you 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.240 have a warm ocean, you're gonna have more rain in 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.880 that area, right Uh. And in the Pacific Ocean near 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.640 the equator, for the equatorial region where it's warm. Where 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.800 it's warm, you're gonna have the sun baking that water 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.520 on the surface, making it warmer, right, and then that 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:23.920 the rain that water heats up the air right above it. 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:27.400 That air rises, taking some of the moisture with it, 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.120 and it rises up meets cooler, drier air in the 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:35.520 in the atmosphere, that water vapor condenses and turns into rain. 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.720 There's your tropical thunderstorm boom. So that's part one, right. 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:42.440 And then in the Pacific specifically, there is a patch 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:46.240 of warm water that usually gets blown from the Eastern 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.440 Pacific to the Western Pacific, usually like clockwork. And when 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.640 that happens, everything is normal. Yes, these are trade winds 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:58.040 and they blow usually pretty consistently, but not always. Sometimes 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:02.800 they uh don't blow was heavy, and sometimes they change direction. Yeah, 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.400 So if the trade wind isn't blowing this warm water, 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:09.240 the rotation of the Earth on its axis actually pushes 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:13.200 the warm water towards the east rather than towards the west. 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.000 And when everything is normal and the trade winds blow 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:18.680 this warm water to the west, uh, in the wintertime, 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:23.760 the rainy season comes to places like East Asia, right, Yeah, 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:29.200 and then western Peru, the Eastern Pacific. It's kind of confusing, 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.400 so just refer to a map. As we're talking, um 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:35.800 is normally dry and cool, right, But if the trade 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:37.840 winds aren't there, like you say, to push that warm 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:40.560 water along, that warm water stays right where it is 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.200 off the coast of Peru in the eastern Pacific, and 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:47.360 all the weather in the world starts to change. And 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.560 this is what's called El Nino. That's right. And el 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.080 nino isn't It's not something that just affects that one 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:56.640 region out in the middle of nowhere in the ocean. 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.360 It affects climate, well, not climate, but whether all over 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:05.400 the world. Uh, in the US, um what you usually see. 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:07.560 And we'll talk more about this current El Nino that 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:13.720 we're in because we're in one winter, but typically in 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.840 the US it's gonna bean cooler and wetter weather in 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:20.200 the southern part of the United States, warmer weather in 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:24.120 the upper Midwest and Pacific northwest in Alaska. U A 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:31.080 fewer hurricanes, more typhoons globally, fewer Atlantic hurricanes, more Pacific typhoons. 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.480 I think, aren't they one and the same, like a 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:35.720 hurricane and a typhoon is just depending on where in 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:38.800 the world they are. I don't know, I think so, Yeah, 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:40.840 I'm pretty sure. It depends on what you call it. 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:45.560 I guess we're gonna find out all right around the world. Um, 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:49.960 in Southeast Asia where it's um warm and dry. In 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:54.840 places like Australia, Uh, it's gonna be well warm and dry, 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.360 right like it can be dangerously dry, yes conditions right, 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:03.560 it'll it drier than normal because that that rain, the 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.160 rainy season isn't being brought over there by the trade 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:11.880 winds that yearly Southern Africa warm and dry, Central Africa wetter, 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.960 and then South America is sort of all over the place, um, 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.720 depending on where you are, from dry in the northeast 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.120 to wet in the west and south. So those are 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:25.320 the those are what ELNA will mean when it happens. 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:29.960 Usually the thing is um. This happens every two to 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:35.880 seven years, supposedly, UM. And it's actually only in fairly 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:39.440 recent times, since the early eighties, that science has really 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:41.319 sat up and paid attention to this, and it was 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.920 because they got caught off guard by one UM the 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:49.079 But throughout the study over the last like thirty something years, 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.640 we still don't have any idea what causes the trade 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:57.960 winds to stop. Basically some years that produces el Nino UM. 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:01.280 And that's a huge mystery and one that really if 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.360 we could solve that, we could figure it out, then 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.199 we could probably predict El Nino even further out, which is, 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:11.440 as we'll see, would save lives absolutely. Uh, well, why 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.520 don't we take a quick break here and we'll come 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.520 back and um talk a little bit more about the process. 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.560 All right, So you said every two to seven years, Yes, 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:40.400 I did, El Nino comes on stage and takes a bow. 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.760 Since we are the Pixies. Seriously, if you haven't seen 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:46.599 that Chris Farley bit, just go watch it. It's hilarious. 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:51.000 He's got like Carmen Miranda arm bands on and his 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.520 shirt and it's great. He liked to take his shirt off. 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.120 Didn't Yeah he did. He got laughs. So it took 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.240 We were talking about how El Nino um A afect 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.680 to weather, not just around like eastern Peru or making 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:07.640 it drier in Southeast Asia or Australia UM. And the 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.280 reason that it affects weather around the world is because 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.040 of the jet streams. There's a bunch of them and 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.040 basically the jet streams are where the stratosphere and the 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:21.800 troposphere meat. And uh, it's just to put really even 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:26.079 like less than fifth grade scientis. They're like rivers of 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.200 fast moving air in already moving air. It's a jet 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:32.719 stream basically up in the atmosphere, and they're basically like 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:36.480 conveyor belts around the world. They moved from west to east, right, 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:38.920 and they push things like warm air and cool air 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.480 and high pressure and low pressure in fronts and all 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:45.240 over the world. And when these things encounter other fronts 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:49.040 that are already there, they form weather, right or And 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.960 it's weird to think of weather as the lack of something, 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.920 but but having say, cool, dry weather, that's still that's 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.480 still weather. Usually think of weather as an event like 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:02.840 a thunderstorm or tornado or something like that. But weather 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:07.880 it can also be unusually dry or unusually cool weather too. Yeah. Weather, 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:10.680 it's just however it is right now? Is weather. It's 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:15.560 it's very it's very mellow. Uh. And the jet stream, 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:21.040 because of its massive power, can affect, uh, like like 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.920 thousands of miles away, things that you wouldn't think might 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:26.400 be affected or affected. Yeah, And so depending on where 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:28.600 you are in a jet stream, jet streams are characterized 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:32.560 by um troughs and ridges, right. And if you're underneath 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.920 a ridge, things usually tend to stay warm and dry, 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:41.559 and if you're under a trough, it's usually cold and wet. So, 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:46.160 like you said, inn Alnno, the southeastern United States usually 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:50.400 sitting right underneath a trough in the jet stream, which 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:54.440 means it's colder and mother than usual. Right, Yeah, well 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.040 that's why because of the jet stream, people blame it 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.720 on the Alnno, and the Alnno started the whole thing 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.959 like this, this weather wouldn't be happening. But the reason 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:06.319 that al Nino is distributed throughout the the world is 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:10.319 because of the jet stream. So it's this very extraordinarily 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:14.720 complex system working in concert with one another to wreak havoc. Yes, 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:18.920 for the most part, el Nino. You know, we said 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:21.439 every two to seven years is when we get one. 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:28.839 And um, climatologists and weather people and meteorologist what else 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.640 can I call them? Um uh weather bugs, weather bugs. 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.040 They look at patterns and you can't just say anytime 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:38.560 like oh, things are heating up a little bit, it's 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:43.199 al Nino. Their specific conditions, Um, they look in particular 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.360 and you can say that, but you'll get shouted down, 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:51.079 you know. Meteorologist. Yeah, they love shouting. Um. They look 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.280 at ocean tibatures, mainly in the Pacific, and when they 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:58.880 find a point nine degree fahrenheit or point five degrees 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.880 celsius right is in the water, and then the conditions 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.200 start to sort of act like we're talking about before 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:08.120 with the wind um, they say, all right, let's take 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.319 a look at this and start charting at everybody, and 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.040 everyone gets real excited in the office. And what they 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:17.839 need is five overlapping three month periods for that to 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.959 be officially classified as Elnno. Otherwise it's just like you said, weather, 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.280 but it all starts with the sea surface temperature. Um. 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:30.800 That's what they call it, staying warmer, being warmer than usual. Yeah. 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.080 And right now we are officially in the strongest El 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:39.280 Nino on record, Yes, at a three point one degree 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:43.600 rise fahrenheit and peak wow. And like El Nino conditions 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.360 start at point nine degrees yeah, and we're at three 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.439 point one yeah. And one of the other we'll talk 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.079 about some of the other big ones, but the one 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:55.640 in UH I believe that Chris Farley referenced was that 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:59.400 peaked at two point eight. So this is officially the strongest, 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:02.959 although it's not really having the same result as what 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.079 you would imagine as the strongest, right, so you you 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.160 would guess and you would probably be um, you wouldn't 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:14.000 be shouted at in the meteor meteorological conference if you 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:18.880 guess this. But warmer weather, warmer surface CE Service temperatures 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:24.960 should lead to worse weather conditions, drier Indonesia, whether in 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.960 the southeastern United States, and that's just not happening this time. 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.560 Well it is, but not to the degree that they 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.080 thought it would, right, but not even not even to 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.160 the degree where, oh this is this is just slightly 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:39.960 worse than it was in It's actually not nearly as 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.400 bad as it was in like even though the ce 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.360 Service temperature is higher, and they can't explain that either, No, 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.760 they can't, and they're blaming it on climate change. They're 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:51.360 saying it's climate change is definitely doing something what exactly 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:54.760 we don't know. And again, the whole thing dates back 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:56.720 to the or the whole study of it dates back 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:01.040 to UM nine two eight three season. Right, Yeah, that 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:06.280 was when UH meteorology was in its infancy, right, well, 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.400 not exactly but sort of, because they had an al 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.480 Nenio year then and they thought, hey, I think what's 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:17.360 going on. Is this volcano Mexico l Chon erupted and 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.200 that's wreaking havoc everywhere. That's gotta be what it is. Yeah, 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.360 they later were like, oh wait a minute, things are 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:27.120 normal now. It wasn't the volcano, it's what what could 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.520 it be? Well, the well And the reason that it 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:31.880 really got their attention is by the time the al 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:35.440 Neno conditions ended, there was like eighty billion dollars worth 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:39.720 of damage worldwide, property damage I think um and something 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:41.920 like two thousand people had lost their lives. So it 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:46.520 really made these meteorologist sit up and take notice. And 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:50.640 so agencies like Noah started to drop booi's in the 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:55.440 Pacific Ocean. They started um using weather balloons to study 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.400 air temperatures in the area and really started tracking the 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.200 whole thing to see what was going on into to 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.120 notice any changes. And that's when like El Nino study 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.280 really started in earnest uh. Yeah. And there's also we 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.280 should mention La Nina, which is what's known as his 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:15.840 sister to El Nino, appropriately titled, and that is when 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.120 the trade winds actually picked back up and are stronger 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.480 than normal. Right, And the fact that it's capitalized suggests 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:26.320 that it's the girl christ child, right. I guess maybe 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.120 El Nino La Nina both capitalized. I don't know, a 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.200 little odd uh, and each of these phenomenon are about 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:37.080 nine to twelve months long, uh, developing the spring. They 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.600 peeked in the autumn or winter, and then weekend in 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:43.160 the following spring and early summer. So like right now, 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.320 when this El Nino, when they finally were like, all right, 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:49.800 we're getting another El Nino, everyone in southern California, We're 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.640 was jumping up and down because they're uh in the 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.120 midst of a long drought, and they thought, we're gonna 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.200 get tons of rain like we did ninety seven, and 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.200 it's going to really help fill the coughs. And it 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.600 just hasn't banned out that way. They got a lot 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:09.440 of rain in January, but nothing compared to California really 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:14.480 angered God. When they elected Schwartzeneger, what it was you 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:17.879 would pay and chuck um, I think you said La 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.320 Nina doesn't always follow Al Nino. I don't think so. Well, 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:24.560 it doesn't always follow El Nino. It's not guaranteed that 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:26.919 when you have El Nino, you're going to have La Nina. 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:29.879 But la nin Yeah, it's basically the opposite. The trade 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:32.159 winds not only blow the way they're supposed to, they 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:36.159 blow even more than ever before. And it's really crazy 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.440 dry where it's supposed to be. It's really crazy wet 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:42.040 where it's supposed to be wet um. And then there's 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.760 a period in between, a neutral period where nothing's freaky. 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.520 That's called regular weather. Right. And if you put all 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:53.160 this together El Nino, the neutral period and La nin Ya, 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.240 you have what's called the El Nino Southern oscillation or 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:58.760 and so, which if you are a weather bug or 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:02.160 a meteorologist, this is probably how you refer to El 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:07.920 Nino as the uh Eleno Southern oscillations. Yes, very nice, 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.880 and so do you want to take a break. Let's 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:32.480 take a break, Okay, all right, So we talked about 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:36.960 some of the effects on local weather in different parts 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.320 of the world for Elena, but that is uh not 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:42.560 the only issue we we talked about. It wreaking havoc. 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:44.440 It's not just oh it's raining a lot and it 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:48.880 shouldn't be, or oh it's super dry, like devastating effects, 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:54.160 billions of dollars and lives loss globally all over the place, 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.879 so the Chris Farley one, let's just call it the 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:02.399 Farley Alenia. Um, by the time that was over, I 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:06.000 think you said earlier thirty three billion dollars in damage. 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.399 Oh I thought it was like eighty billion. I'm sorry, 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.960 I I I exaggerated. Maybe it would be eighty billion today. No, 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:15.160 I was talking about the early eighties when I said 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:19.600 eighty billion. I see now it's eight billion wrong, So 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:21.440 please go ahead. There's still a lot of money. So 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:25.320 thirty three billion in damage for half a billion in 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:29.960 California alone, and uh, it's a you know, a big deal. 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:31.960 If you're an island in the Pacific, you rely on 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:37.600 that rain for life, for fresh water, Yeah, wash your hair, sure, 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:42.440 all that jazz so food crops they're gonna suffer. Well yeah, 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:45.560 I mean drought is really bad for it. But also 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:48.120 so it is too much rain too can actually ruin 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:51.399 crops um, it's all. It also has a tremendous effect 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:55.320 on um like property as well. Oh yeah, I mean 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:57.119 if you live on this side of a hill in 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:00.520 Los Angeles, you might slide off of that hill and 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.159 into the ocean below. Yeah. Where was that one? Um, 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.800 there's a place in I think in the eighties. Oh yeah, 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:11.080 in Peru. There is a place in Peru that normally 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:14.000 gets about six inches of rain. Oh yeah, that one. Yeah, 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:17.399 And for the nineteen eighty two eighty three El Nino, 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:21.639 it got eleven feet. Yeah. You can't normally get how 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:25.359 many inches six six inches and go to eleven feet 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:27.760 and not have like serious damage done. Right, And for 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.239 those of you not in the US or Liberia who 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:33.280 weren't just like, wow, normally as place in Prue gets 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:37.320 six fifteen centimeters of rain, and they got three meters 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:43.440 of rain that year. Now, everybody's duly impressed. Uh. Fisheries 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:45.679 are also affected. Um, this is one that I did 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:48.960 not know. Anchovies. I love that cold water off the 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:52.440 coast of Peru. But when that cold water is not there, 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:55.359 they say, I'm swimming to where it's cold. And so 0:20:55.840 --> 0:21:00.880 fisheries either scramble to make up for that in other ways, 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:05.080 or if they get warning like they get now, they say, hey, 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:07.000 why don't we fish for something that likes cold water 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:11.680 and shrimp a little baby krill and shrimp shrimp, because 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:13.480 you can do a lot of different stuff with shrimp. 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:15.680 I don't know if you know this, Oh boy, would 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:17.760 you like me to list them off, No, Bubba gump. 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:24.040 So uh, it's also affects just the health of individuals. 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:28.120 UM disease carrying rodents and insects, are you know, gonna 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:32.159 be more prolific in the wet weather. Malaria UM is 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:36.440 going to increase when it's unusually wet and warm, and 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:39.480 when it is and usually wet and warm, things like 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:44.359 diseases tend to spread a lot more easily. Mosquitoes breed 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:49.280 very easily, Yeah, which would account for the malaria right threefold? Right, 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:54.040 did you say threefold increase in Not in Peru, there 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:59.000 was a threefold increase in malaria because there were just 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:01.760 that many more miss squito's biting people. Yeah, and that's 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:08.440 wet conditions. UM in Indonesia had twenty four million acres 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:15.680 or seven point seven million hector's, like that of of 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:21.320 unchecked forest fires. Yeah, that's that's devastating to the region. 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.520 Well yeah, and it was because again they're expecting a 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.719 rainy season and instead they got a drought, and Indonesia 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:31.840 in particular got well, it got screwed over by nature. Okay, 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:34.439 I'm just gonna come out and say it. Because they 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:39.679 had the warm conditions from uh, the from Southeast Asia 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:43.159 pushing into their that area, and then well they're in 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:46.840 Southeast Asia. But the majority of Southeast Asia got warmer 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:51.880 than usual conditions, and then Australia had drier than usual conditions, 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:55.880 and these two conditions pushed together and overlapped and made 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:58.400 a Venn diagram, and that the center of the Venn 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:03.080 diagram fell directly over Indonesia. So Indonesia was like, we 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:08.600 didn't ellect Schwarzenegger, what's going on? And uh it burned 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:11.320 as a matter of fact, Yeah, twenty four million acres. 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:15.600 It's unbelievable. Uh, California, Southern California, it's not over for 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:18.520 you yet. Uh. They said that there could still be 0:23:18.640 --> 0:23:23.359 some rough storms into March. But um, you're not going 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:25.639 to solve your drought problem, even if it was a 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:29.960 strong al neno, you know, or if the strong almenio 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:33.520 led to like like massive amounts of rain. Well supposedly, 0:23:33.560 --> 0:23:35.760 also when you get a lot of rain to um, 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:39.439 it's really dangerous because if you've been through a drought 0:23:39.760 --> 0:23:42.800 too much at once. Yes, because tree roots during a 0:23:42.880 --> 0:23:45.560 drought come back up towards the surface because they're trying 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:47.640 to get all the water they can. So these trees 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:51.160 have shallow roots, so in influx or delusion of water 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:54.760 just goes right underneath the trees and they fall over. Yeah, 0:23:54.800 --> 0:23:58.040 that happened in Atlanta a few years ago. And I 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:00.560 may have even told the story of the guy who 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:02.960 got killed in front of my house. Oh yeah, you did. 0:24:03.160 --> 0:24:05.800 I forgot about that. I mean, thirty ft in front 0:24:05.840 --> 0:24:10.200 of my house. A tree fell on a guy's truck. Death, 0:24:10.320 --> 0:24:12.720 I know, And I think about that every time. We 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:16.120 have like massive amounts of rain for days and days 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:18.160 at a time, and I start to see trees down 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:22.040 when I'm driving, I start to look around, you know, 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:24.960 pay attention. Not that there's much you can do. No, 0:24:25.280 --> 0:24:26.720 I mean maybe if he saw a tree falling, you 0:24:26.760 --> 0:24:29.840 could jet out of there. But you know, you gotta 0:24:29.840 --> 0:24:32.760 go the right way. It's true, you know, the tree 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:36.840 is a large swath. There was an actress in Chicago. 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:39.320 She's on TV. I don't remember what show, but she 0:24:39.440 --> 0:24:41.760 was riding her biking. A tree fell over and killed her. 0:24:42.600 --> 0:24:46.960 Tree falling over and killing you randomly is the like 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:51.040 your number is up. There's there's how how can you 0:24:51.240 --> 0:24:54.119 think of the universe as being that random? It just 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:58.680 it almost is like, I know, like fate showing its hand, Like, yeah, 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:00.640 you're sitting at a stop fly and the tree falls 0:25:00.640 --> 0:25:03.920