1982–83 El Niño event

Despite expectations of diminished tropical cyclone activity, the western Pacific typhoon seasons of 1982 and 1983 were hardly affected by the ongoing El Niño event.

The 1982–83 El Niño event changed the normal location of cold and warm waters around the Galápagos Islands, killing many of the macroalgae at the base of the food chain and increasing predation on the survivors by starving animals.

One endemic species of cold water algae, Desmarestia tropica, is often held as being driven to extinction by this crisis,[6] although it had not actually been observed by researchers since 1972.

[8][9] Up in the food chain, the crisis led to declines of 77% among Galápagos penguins, 49% among flightless cormorants,[10] and 25% among adult Peruvian sea lions and fur seals, plus the loss of the entire pup population in the latter two.

[12] Warm water to the south of the Hawaiian Islands around November allowed a late tropical disturbance to develop into Hurricane Iwa,[13] which became the sixth wettest tropical cyclone ever recorded in Hawaii, and the costliest up to that point,[14] causing damage totaling $312 million (1982 USD, $985 million 2025 USD)[15] and leaving 500 Hawaiians homeless.

[16] The last female Kauaʻi ʻōʻō bird was lost in the storm; her mate was recorded singing in solitary until he went silent and presumably died in 1987, marking the extinction of their species.