ENSO and North Atlantic Hurricanes

El Niño and La Niña Years for Atlantic Hurricanes

We define an El Niño or a La Niña year in relation to the Atlantic hurricane season using the Nino3.4 index during the months of August to October (ASO) for the years 1950-2001. The 12 years with the largest (smallest) values of this index are defined as El Niño (La Niña) years (see Figure 2), the other years are called neutral years, as described in Table 1.

Figure 2. Nino3.4 index averaged August - October for the years 1950-2001.