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(El Niño is a phenomena in which the normal ocean currents that regulate atmospheric temperature change because of a build up of hot water in the east Pacific. It occurs every three to seven years around December, and takes its name from a Spanish term meaning “Christ Child” because of the proximity to Christmas.)

“One of the influences El Niño can have here in the Great Lakes basin is to give us milder-than-normal temperatures during the fall and winter,” Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said. El Niño has also meant drier air for the surrounding region.

This mild temperature is to thank for the nearly snowless winter in Toronto. But when El Niño causes pleasant weather in one place, it wreaks havoc somewhere else.

“While we may be milder and in some cases dryer than normal, the American deep south and Mid-Atlantic states can be wetter than normal because of El Niño.”

According to Coulson, the system which hammered the U.S. is an example of El Niño directing weather patterns along unusual paths.

“What can happen is major storm tracks get suppressed further to the south,” Coulson said. “What this implies is that storm systems coming out of Colorado or Texas may head directly eastwards as opposed to going northeast towards the Toronto area.”

Does that mean El Niño saved Toronto from a winter beating? Probably not. Because of the southern trajectory, the storm had time to brew over the Gulf of Mexico, taking in tremendous amounts of moisture it later dumped from Georgia to New York. Without El Niño, there likely would be no super storm.

As for the rest of the winter in Toronto, things aren’t looking too bad.

“January will likely end up milder than normal for the greater Toronto Area,” Coulson said.

But Toronto isn’t likely to get off completely snow-free: predictions say there should be a snowstorm sometime in mid-February.