Why is the climate pattern called “El Niño” in Spanish?

“El Niño” is now global English, but it’s plain Spanish: “the boy / the Christ Child.” Peruvian and Ecuadorian fishermen named the warm ocean current that arrives around Christmas — el Niño Jesús — because it showed up at that time of year and thinned out their catch. The counter-phase, cooler waters, is “La Niña,” the girl. In the clip it’s “el patrón climático del Niño,” the El Niño climate pattern.

The current weakens the Atlantic hurricane season, hence the forecast for “una temporada menos activa de lo normal.” Useful weather vocabulary alongside it: “temporada de huracanes” (hurricane season), “tormentas” (storms), “alcanzar la categoría superior” (reach major-hurricane strength). Scientists fold both phases into ENSO — El Niño-Southern Oscillation.