STATE weather forecasters announced that the El Niño phenomenon has ended.

The El Niño phenomenon wrought havoc on agricultural lands and fishing areas across the country has also caused economic hardships.

It likewise contributed to record-high temperatures across the country. 

“El Niño in the tropical Pacific Ocean has ended, as both oceanic and atmospheric indicators have returned to El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-neutral levels,” PAGASA said in its final El Niño advisory.

But PAGASA climate monitoring and prediction section chief Ana Liza Solis explained that there would still be what she called remnants of El Niño effects in some areas of the country.

On July 4 last year, PAGASA declared the start of the El Niño phenomenon.

The term El Niño (Spanish for ‘the Christ Child’) refers to a warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface temperatures, in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.