Historical comparisons to El nino?

Question

A current epidemic = AIDS

A previous similar epidemic = bubonic plague, ect.

If a current environmental issue is El nino, what would be some historical examples that are similar?

Answer 1

Well, this is a difficult question to answer, because while AIDS and the bubonic plagues are diseases that have been more prevalent in different time periods...El Nino is a regularly recurring phenomenon that has only received so much lately because recent research has not only helped better understand it...but also link it to various weather patterns across the globe.  But in reality, El Nino has likely been around, occurring regularly and differing only in its magnitude, for thousands of years.  

However, there are other atmospheric oscillations, sometimes referred to as teleconnections, similar to El Nino, that have also been linked to various weather patterns.  Some that you may want to look into include: North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Arctic Oscillation (AO), Pacific/North American Oscillation (PNA), Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), and the Madden/Julian Oscillation (MJO).  Some are understood better than others.  El Nino is the best understood and most widely know.

Another way you could look at your question is to consider...what are some factors that earlier scientists/meteorologist discovered to drive weather patterns.  The only one that comes to mind off the top of my head is sunspot cycles.