According to a study in the journal Nature Climate Change, we're going to have an increase in El Nino type weather events in the 21st century. That sucks. It used to happen once every 20 years or so. Now we can expect them every 10 years once.

El Nino naturally occurs when the temperature of the Pacific Ocean rises. It alters rainfall patterns and causes everything from extreme floods to severe droughts around the world. The last severe El Nino in 1997-98 caused between $35-45 billion in damage and killed about 23,000 people.

"This is a highly unexpected consequence of global warming," Professor Mat Collins of the University of Exeter said in a statement. "Previously we had thought that El Nino would be unaffected by climate change. Tropical rainfall conditions such as those experienced in extreme El Ninos have a dramatic influence on the world […] the impact therefore on mankind is substantial."

"This is essentially an 'irreversible' climate change phenomenon, and it would take a dramatic reduction in greenhouse emissions over a number of generations to reduce the impact," Collins said in a statement. "It is even more evidence that cutting emissions would be a good idea." [The Guardian]