| El Niņo & La
Niņa Years: A Consensus List Jan Null, CCM Discontinued December 2007 |
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IMPORTANT NOTE: The page is no longer being updated. Please go to http://ggweather.com/enso/oni.htm (01/08)
| El Niņo and La Niņa events are
classified by a number of different criteria. Some classification
systems use the strength and sign of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI),
while others use Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies for a variety of
Pacific regions. Still others use a combination of several criteria
to gauge the type and strength of the event. Consequently there are
number of different lists which are actively used. Four of the most
widely used lists are: Western Region Climate Center at
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/enso/ensodef.html An event consensus was arrived at by choosing years which appeared on three of the four above lists. It should be noted that there is obviously some crossover of the variables used in the various methodologies and no attempt has been made to give a weight of one list over another. When WRCC, CPC and MEI all indicated W+ and CDC gave a W (their strongest category) then that season was considered a strong event. Otherwise the strength was determined from the "average" of the strength of chosen events. The resultant data is expressed in Table 1 (below). |
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Table 1. Consensus List of El Niņo and La Niņa Years |
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| Winter | WRCC | CDC | CPC | MEI | Consensus |
| 1950-51 | C+ | C | C | C | La Niņa |
| 1951-52 | W+ | W- | |||
| 1952-53 | |||||
| 1953-54 | W | W- |
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| 1954-55 | C | C- |
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| 1955-56 | C+ | C+ | C | Strong La Niņa | |
| 1956-57 | C | C- | C- | Weak La Niņa | |
| 1957-58 | W | W | W+ | W | El Niņo |
| 1958-59 | W+ | W- |
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| 1959-60 | |||||
| 1960-61 | |||||
| 1961-62 | C- | ||||
| 1962-63 | C- | ||||
| 1963-64 | W | W- | |||
| 1964-65 | C | C | C- | La Niņa | |
| 1965-66 | W+ | W | W | W | El Niņo |
| 1966-67 | C- | ||||
| 1967-68 | C- | ||||
| 1968-69 | W | W- | |||
| 1969-70 | W | W | |||
| 1970-71 | C | C | C | La Niņa | |
| 1971-72 | C | C- | C- | Weak La Niņa | |
| 1972-73 | W+ | W | W+ | W | Strong El Niņo |
| 1973-74 | C+ | C | C+ | C+ | Strong La Niņa |
| 1974-75 | C | C- | C- | Weak La Niņa | |
| 1975-76 | C+ | C | C+ | C | Strong La Niņa |
| 1976-77 | W | W- | |||
| 1977-78 | W+ | W- | W- | El Niņo | |
| 1978-79 | |||||
| 1979-80 | W- | W- | |||
| 1980-81 | |||||
| 1981-82 | |||||
| 1982-83 | W+ | W | W+ | W+ | Strong El Niņo |
| 1983-84 | C- | ||||
| 1984-85 | C- | C- | |||
| 1985-86 | |||||
| 1986-87 | W | W | |||
| 1987-88 | W+ | W- | W | W- | El Niņo |
| 1988-89 | C+ | C- | C+ | C | Strong La Niņa |
| 1989-90 | |||||
| 1990-91 | W+ | ||||
| 1991-92 | W | W | W+ | W+ | Strong El Niņo |
| 1992-93 | W | ||||