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Top 10 global weather events of 2010

4. El Niño to La Niña transition

Efrain Patino / AP / File
Residents sit on a flooded street in Puerto Santander, on Colombia's northeastern border with Venezuela, Dec. 4. Climatologists blame the exceptionally wet rainy season, which has caused floods and landslides that have killed more than 170 people throughout Colombia this year, on the 'La Niña' climatic phenomenon, which is caused by a cooling of adjacent waters in the Pacific Ocean.

  • By National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Spring 2010 saw an enormous swing from El Niño to La Niña. Flooding in Indonesia, Colombia, and Australia has all been tied to this phenomenon.

El Niño and La Niña represent opposite extremes in the naturally occurring climate cycle referred to as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). They are associated with opposite extremes in sea-surface temperature across the Pacific, and with opposite extremes in rainfall, surface air pressure, and atmospheric circulation from Indonesia to South America (approximately half the distance around the globe).

Only 1973, 1983, and 1998 have seen larger within-year swings than 2010.

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