harvey, with regards to lower temperatures, recent data I saw...

harvey, with regards to lower temperatures, recent data I saw indicated that many places in the south eastern corner of Australia, (that is the region the data referred to) have had their lowest temperatures on record in more recent years or decades than their highest recorded temperatures, some which have stood for over 100 years.
With regards to the El-Nino / ENSO influence, it is a Pacific Ocean event that does directly influence the Americas. In our case it is the Indian Ocean that has the main influence on Australia. At times the events in the Pacific and in the Indian may coincide, at other times they may be in opposing modes as they were this year. That is why the widely anticipated La-Nina didn't arrive as was being forecast.
The influence of the El-Nino on Australias weather seems strong when you look at how many El-Nino years have been drought years here, however if you look at how many drought years have been El-Nino years then it starts to look as a more coincidential relationship. When you take the Indian Ocean Dipole into account than the relationship becomes stronger. Work is now being done to incorporate data from all surrounding oceans that may reveal other similar events in other oceans as the Indian Ocean Dipole and the ENSO.