These winds push warm surface water toward the western Pacific, where it borders Asia and Australia.
In order to understand the development of El Niño, it’s important to be familiar with non-El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean. Normally, strong trade winds blow westward across the tropical Pacific, the region of the Pacific Ocean located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. These winds push warm surface water toward the western Pacific, where it borders Asia and Australia.