What is El Niño and why does it have so much influence over our weather?

El Niño is an ocean and atmospheric phenomenon that has a significant impact on our planet's weather.

While an El Niño event influences the whole world, the main effect is on the Pacific area, especially Australia, Indonesia and south-west America.

"During El Niño we have the droughts in western Pacific counties, like Indonesia and Australia," says Dr Wenju Cai, a senior principal research scientist at CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship.

"But in other places — like Ecuador and Peru — these normally dry areas suddenly get a lot of rain. In the US, in California they experience flooding during El Niño events."

Read more...http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/07/07/4032725.htm