El Niño could wreak havoc across the world this winter

El Niño is back with a vengeance. The weather system -- that was somewhat of a cultural phenomenon in the '90s -- recently broke through California's long-time drought causing heavy rains, flooding and landslides.

These dangerous weather conditions sweeping through the west coast are indicative of an intense El Niño event to come this winter.

"The presence of a strong El Niño almost ensures that 2015 will become the warmest on record for Earth and will have ripple effects on weather patterns all over the world," reports The Washington Post.

But what is El Niño anyway? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sums them up as "complex weather patterns resulting from variations in ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific."

See photos of the El Niño phenomenon:

The NOAA predicts that there is a 90-percent chance of a strong El Niño system this winter.

What we're seeing in Southern California is just a precursor to the main event this winter.

This chart from the Washington Post compares the current El Niño event with the one from the late '90s - and it's shaping up to be even worse.

CBS Los Angeles reports "the predicted El Niño rains could result in excessive stress on levees, roads and hillsides that have started to dry and crack in California's historic drought."

And a climatologist for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory tells the LA Times: "Be careful what you wish for. Great droughts usually end in great floods."

More from AOL.com:
Wisconsin governor implements intense 20-week abortion ban
3-year-old girl tragically fell to her death from balcony on Disneyland vacation
Police misconduct in man's death unlikely, prosecutor says