This past October was the hottest in 136 years of recorded data, making it the 8th record-breaking month this year. The El Niño weather pattern is only adding fuel to that fire, already triggering powerful typhoons, spoiled cocoa harvests in Indonesia, and caused huge forest fires in Africa, and climatologists warn that these effects are only beginning. Given its unusually powerful state this year, many believe El Niño will continue into late Spring and early Summer, possibly even contributing to more record-breaking heat in 2016. El Niño is a weather event in which warm ocean water develops in the Pacific and cycles between warm and cold temperatures. The oscillation can cause abnormally wet seasons in Western United States, and global warming has only intensified those effects.