Go for it - but for me, the below says it all. Green line is the trend from 1970 to 1997; blue line is the trend from 1970 to 2015. If you think there’s any substantial change there, well... I think you’re kidding yourself. The only way to make the “pause” appear like anything real is to isolate it from everything before and after, so you can get away with starting your new trend near the peak of the El Niño.
