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After three nasty years, the聽聽that increases Atlantic hurricane activity and worsens western drought is gone, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.

That鈥檚 usually聽 for the United States and other parts of the world, including drought-stricken northeast Africa, scientists said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 over,鈥� said research scientist Azhar Ehsan, who heads Columbia University鈥檚 El Ni帽o/La Ni帽a forecasting. 鈥淢other Nature thought to get rid of this one because it鈥檚 enough.鈥�

La Ni帽a is a natural and temporary cooling of parts of the Pacific Ocean聽 In the United States, because La Ni帽a is connected to more Atlantic storms and deeper droughts and wildfires in the West, La Ni帽as often are more damaging and expensive than their more famous flip side, El Ni帽o, experts said and studies show.

Generally, American agriculture is more damaged by La Ni帽a than El Ni帽o. If the globe jumps into El Ni帽o it means more rain for the Midwestern corn belt and grains in general and could be beneficial, said Michael Ferrari, chief scientific officer of Climate Alpha, a firm that advises investors on financial decisions based on climate.

When there鈥檚 a La Ni帽a, there are more storms in the Atlantic during hurricane season because it removes conditions that suppress storm formation. Neutral or El Ni帽o conditions make it harder for storms to get going, but not impossible, scientists said.

Over the last three years, the U.S. has been hit by 14 hurricanes and tropical storms that caused a billion dollars or more in damage, totalling $252 billion in costs, according to NOAA economist and meteorologist Adam Smith said. La Ni帽a and people building in harm鈥檚 way were factors, he said.

Climate change is a major factor in worsening extreme weather, alongside La Ni帽a, scientists said and numerous studies and reports show. Human-caused warming is like an escalator going up: It makes temperatures increase and extremes worse, while La Ni帽a and El Ni帽o are like jumping up and down on the escalator, according to Northern Illinois University atmospheric sciences professor Victor Gensini.

La Ni帽a has also slightly dampened global average temperatures, keeping warming from breaking annual temperature records, while El Ni帽o slightly turbocharges those temperatures often setting records, scientists said.

La Ni帽a tends to make Western Africa wet, but Eastern Africa, around Somalia, dry. The opposite happens in El Ni帽o with drought-struck Somalia likely to get steady 鈥渟hort rains,鈥� Ehsan said. La Ni帽a has wetter conditions for Indonesia, parts of Australia and the Amazon, but those areas are drier in El Ni帽o, according to NOAA.

El Ni帽o means more heat waves for India and Pakistan and other parts of South Asia and weaker monsoons there, Ehsan said.

This particular La Ni帽a, which started in September 2020 but is considered three years old because it affected three different winters, was unusual and one of the longest on record. It took a brief break in 2021 but came roaring back with聽

鈥淚鈥檓 sick of this La Ni帽a,鈥� Ehsan said. L鈥橦eureux agreed, saying she鈥檚 ready to talk about something else.

The few other times that there鈥檚 been a triple-dip La Ni帽a have come after strong El Ni帽os and there鈥檚 clear physics on why that happens. But that鈥檚 not what happened with this La Ni帽a, L鈥橦eureux said. This one didn鈥檛 have a strong El Ni帽o before it.

Even though this La Ni帽a has confounded scientists in the past, they say the signs of it leaving are clear: Water in the key part of the central Pacific warmed to a bit more than the threshold for a La Ni帽a in February, the atmosphere showed some changes and along the eastern Pacific near Peru, there鈥檚 already El Ni帽o-like warming brewing on the coast, L鈥橦eureux said.

Think of a La Ni帽a or El Ni帽o as something that pushes the weather system from the Pacific with ripple effects worldwide, L鈥橦eureux said. When there are neutral conditions like now, there鈥檚 less push from the Pacific. That means other climatic factors, including the long-term warming trend, have more influence in day-to-day weather, she said.

Without an El Ni帽o or La Ni帽a, forecasters have a harder time predicting seasonal weather trends for summer or fall because the Pacific Ocean has such a big footprint in weeks-long forecasts.

El Ni帽o forecasts made in the spring are generally less reliable than ones made other times of year, so scientists are less sure about what will happen next, L鈥橦eureux said. But NOAA鈥檚 forecast said there鈥檚 a 60% chance that El Ni帽o will take charge come fall.

There鈥檚 also a 5% chance that La Ni帽a will return for an unprecedented fourth dip. L鈥橦eureux said she really doesn鈥檛 want that but the scientist in her would find that interesting.