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The next El Niño, the reversal of Pacific currents that periodically disrupts the weather, will cause less havoc than when it last occurred in 1997 to 1998. Although floods and droughts are again expected, forecasters at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have predicted that the El Niño expected to develop in the next six to nine months will be relatively feeble. El Niño events, which bring warm waters to the equatorial Pacific and throw normal weather patterns around the world out of whack, occur once every three to five years.