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If you live along the East Coast, you’ve probably had a damp few days. Storms, like the nor’easter that dumped rain from North Carolina to Maine over the weekend, happen. But a phenomenon known as El Niño may have made this one more likely, and it’s threatening to fuel other extreme weather around the world for months to come.

What is El Niño, and why is it called that?

El Niño is a climate pattern that periodically warms the Pacific Ocean. It got its name from South American fishermen, who noticed in the 1600s that warmer waters peaked every few years around Christmastime and dubbed the pattern El Niño de Navidad (“the Christmas Child” in Spanish). These days, scientists track El Niño using satellites and sensors. And they forecast that this year’s event could be the strongest on record, spiking sea temperatures far above normal.

Was this week’s storm related to El Niño?

We can’t know for sure. El Niño is a complicated event, and linking individual weather events to broader climate patterns can be tricky. But as the New York Times explains, El........

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