Help: El Niño Queries

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What is El Niño?
El Niño translates from the Spanish as "the little boy" or "the Christ child", and is so called because the weak warm ocean current occurs along the western coast of South America around Christmas. El Niño is a very good example of the complex, intimate exchange between winds in the atmosphere and ocean currents.
In most years the strong, the prevailing trade winds blow westward dragging the Earth's warmest surface waters across the Pacific to Australia and Indonesia. But every few years - scientists aren't sure why - the trade winds slacken or change direction. Within a few weeks, the ocean responds to these changes. Without winds to hold it back, the warm waters to the west slosh back towards the coast of South America. This begins an El Niño.

Some years the water warms up a lot - as much as 5°C or more.

Now its the atmosphere's turn to respond to the ocean. The moist air above the warm waters also warms. It becomes buoyant enough to form clouds and tropical storms. The atmospheric stirrings cause heavy thunderstorms over the central Pacific, which in turn drives the jet streams that guide weather systems across the earth.

How does El Niño affect our weather?
At one time, El Niño was thought to affect only South America's Pacific Coast, bringing flooding rains to Peru and ruining the anchovy fishery. Now we know El Niño can do very strange things to the world's weather for a year or even longer.
In some areas, El Niño means fairly predictable weather. For instance, it is almost sure to cause droughts in Northeastern Brazil, eastern Australia and southern Africa, produce floods and mudslides in Ecuador, quiet the hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, delay the Indian monsoon, and bring copious winter rains to southern California.

In Canada, El Niño's impacts are considered marginal, showing up most clearly during winter-time in western Canada. But, El Niño is both good and bad news for Canadians. For example, in British Columbia schools of hungry mackerel riding the El Niño wave may devour young sockeye stock. To Prairie farmers, anxious to see soil moisture replenished, El Niño's usually snow-free winter is not welcome news for those who enjoy skiing and skating. On the other hand, an El Niño year also correlates with a wetter spring and a warmer summer - making for good crop weather. When El Niño occurs, it seems to have something for everyone.

I'm thinking about going to either Peru or the Galapagos Islands. If I were to go I'd like to travel in late March or early April. Will El Niño cause either location to have really bad weather such as snow and cold temps in Peru, or lots of rain in the Galapagos?? I realize El Niño can be unpredictable but some indication of weather trends would be useful.
The weather should not be much different than the norm for this time of year. Yes, water temperatures will be warmer and it may be a bit cloudier and more rain, but expect the same type of average weather. El Niño seems to affect North America and Austrailia more than other regions.

For someone planning to sail south along the California - Mexico coast, is it possible to get a forecast for El Niño for next winter?
The El Niño is not a regular winter climatic event. It occurs once every 2-7 years and each event is different from the previous in terms of intensity and duration. After a major El Niño event, another natural event called La Nina sometimes follows. La Nina also effects the winter season along the coast.

In terms of what will happen next winter, long range forecasts are starting to indicate the possibility of a weak La Nina event. However, an accurate forecast this far in advance has the same accuracy as flipping a coin.

Does El Niño have any significant effect on the Gulf Stream? Is there a link between them such as to have caused the recent above average temperature in Britain?
As far as we know the El Niño does not directly affect the Gulf Stream, position or intensity. The reason why Britain is having a mild winter is because the Jet Stream's position is averaging higher up in latitude than normal. This has allowed milder air to move further north over the British Isles. So, the possible connection between El Niño and warmer temperatures in Britain is the Jet Stream position over Europe.

What does history tell us of weather conditions following an El Niño year? Specifically, what is its effect in relation to western Canadian agriculture?
That's a tough one because every El Niño presents a different situation. Usually after an El Niño winter, weather and climate slowly returns to normal. As for precipitation and temperature, the growing season may start off with drier and warmer conditions.

Just wanted to ask if El Niño is getting blamed for weather it does not affect? A co-worker insists that El Niño only affects the weather up and down the West Coast and that the unusual weather in our area is just a coincidence. Can El Niño affect the weather in land (especially the Great Lakes) as well as other areas of the country/world?
The answer is yes! El Niño can affect weather inland too. The El Niño of this year has caused the Jet Stream to ride higher in latitude allowing milder air and dryer conditions to prevail for most of Canada. As for other parts of the world, Australia, Hawaii, South America, South East Asia are all affected one way or another by this year's El Niño.