El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomena

At intervals that vary from 2 to 10 yr sea-surface temperatures and rainfall are unusually high and the tradewinds are unusually weak over the tropical Pacific Ocean. These Southern Oscillation El Niño events which devastate the ecology of the coastal zones of Ecuador and Peru, which affect the global atmospheric circulation and which can contribute to severe winters over northern America, often develop in a remarkably predictable manner. But the event which began in 1982 has not followed this pattern.