El Nino and high tide floding, a possible double whammy for some coastal communities in 2026
El Niño's Cycle Repeats Every 2 to 7 Years
Insights
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In between active phases, a "Neutral" period — when sea temperatures sit close to average — can last for months or even years.
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El Niño is the warm phase of this pattern; La Niña is its cooler counterpart.
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Together they make up what scientists call ENSO.
It can be easy to think of El Niño as a single, isolated event — something that shows up, causes a stir, and disappears. In reality, it's one phase of an ongoing rhythm the ocean and atmosphere have been playing out for a very long time, swinging between warmer and cooler states rather than sitting still.
That rhythm doesn't move quickly, and it doesn't move on a strict timetable either. There are stretches where nothing dramatic seems to be happening at all — the ocean settles into a quieter, more neutral state — before conditions eventually tip back toward one extreme or the other.
