Adios La Niña: Key pattern relaxes and may shake up weather around the world Matthew Cappucci A look at sea surface temperature anomalies around the world. (Tropical Tidbits) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on Thursday that a key weather feature that affects global temperature and precipitation has shifted into a “neutral,” or average, state. La Niña, one of the factors behind last year’s extremely active Atlantic hurricane season and a contributor to below-average rainfall in the South and Southwest, has faded away. That means we’re currently in a middle ground between El Niño and La Niña. The former describes an anomalous warming of waters in the eastern tropical Pacific, while La Niña reflects a cooling of the waters there.