The 2014–2016 El Niño was one of the strongest such events on record, triggering severe drought in Venezuela, Australia, and many Pacific islands, while also causing significant flooding elsewhere. It also altered global storm patterns, leading to more tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean and fewer in the Atlantic. The event had an unusually uncertain onset: the World Meteorological Organization predicted a weak event in January 2014, and the NOAA Climate Prediction Center issued an El Niño Watch in March, but the atmosphere initially failed to reinforce the oceanic warming. By late 2014, agencies were split—the Japan Meteorological Agency and Hong Kong Observatory declared a weak event, while the Fiji Meteorological Service called it a near miss. However, after Typhoon Higos developed in February 2015, a new forecast scenario emerged, allowing the event to intensify dramatically into a record-level super El Niño by late 2015 and early 2016.