Move your mouse over and off a pie chart to spin it.

El Niño Year

Normal Year

La Niña Year

Wet = 17%
(1 in 6 chance or 1/6 of the pie)

Dry = 50%
(1 in 2 chance or 1/2 of the pie)

Normal = 33%
(1 in 3 chance or 1/3 of the pie)

The pie charts above tell us how often the Bureau of Meteorology thinks we will have low, normal (average) or high rainfall during different climatic episodes.

El Niņo is a climatic episode. It is a time when the rain clouds form over the middle and eastern part of the tropical Pacific, instead of forming over the western tropical Pacific around the top end of Australia. We get less rain in eastern and northern Australia during an El Niņo event.

Look at the El Niņo pie chart. If you spin it, it is most likely to land on 'Dry' because it makes up a larger part of the chart. It can be read as follows; during an El Niņo event there is a greater chance of receiving low rainfall (Dry) than normal or high rainfall (Wet). As a result, many parts of Australia receive low rainfall (Dry) more often then high rainfall (Wet) during an El Niņo episode.