El Niño, the great mass of warm water currently spreading across the Pacific, is probably the most closely studied contemporary weather phenomenon because it poses danger for millions of people. It pushes up the average temperature around the world, changes rainfall patterns and makes extremes of weather worse.
In theory, in Europe, it will make northern countries colder and frostier in the coming winter and the south wetter, perhaps a welcome change if the rain is spread evenly across parched lands.
