evidence: El Niño is nearing its end. Does that mean global temperatures will cool down in 2024? [...] One of the contributing factors to that extreme warmth was El Niño, a natural, cyclical warming in a region of the Pacific Ocean that, coupled with the atmosphere, can cause global temperatures to rise. Last year, it began in June. [...] El Niño year, it ended up being hotter than 2016, and that's in part because in the eight years between the two El Niños, global temperatures have continued to climb as a result of greenhouse gases continuing to be pumped into the atmosphere.