El Nino/Al Nino

I’m not sure what made me think of this old story but when I first read about it in the Fortean Times years ago it certainly amused me.Back in the late 90s a retired naval pilot from Nipomo in California was accused by more than a few people of being responsible for El Niño simply because his name was Al Nino!

According to the BBC Alphonso Nino was deluged with telephone calls accusing him of being the cause of all the climatic trouble. He said he has been blamed for torrential rain and a farmer's failing strawberry crop - one man even accused Mr Nino of causing his daughter to lose her virginity (though it is not clear what the weather might have had to do with that). Needless to say Al had never met the woman in question.

"Some of them absolutely curse me out and others just ask me, in a rather grudged way if I can just stop the rain." I told one man who'd called me to ask me to stop the rain, that I'd stop it for him. He called me three days later to thank me for making the rain stop I've rather enjoyed it, I'm thick skinned ... I'm an old Navy man so I like to trade barbs with the people that call."

I still find the story funny, but I cannot believe that some people were stupid enough to think that an elderly pilot was the cause if a major weather phenomenon!