Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Your Shortcut to… El Niño

It has a Spanish name that means “the little boy”… scientists can spot it forming from space… and it can affect everything from anchovies to Australian bushfire weather.

In this Squiz Kids Shortcut, Christie and Bryce dive into the giant Pacific Ocean climate pattern known as El Niño.

With a little help from Bryce’s highly scientific bathtub experiment, we’ll find out what El Niño actually is, why warm water sloshing around the Pacific can change where rain falls, and how scientists use satellites, ocean buoys and weather models to watch it unfold.

We’ll also discover why El Niño can mean drier conditions for parts of Australia, heavier rain in other parts of the world, and big changes for fish, food and farming.

Listen carefully. There’s a S’Quiz at the end!

For the full episode transcript, click here.

Researched by Christie Kijurina

Hosted by Bryce Corbett and Christie Kijurina