El Nino weather pattern forms in Pacific Ocean

El Nino weather pattern forms in Pacific Ocean

El Nino, an extreme warming of equatorial waters in the Pacific Ocean that wreaks havoc with world weather conditions, has formed and will last into 2007, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Wednesday.

The El Nino has already helped make the Atlantic hurricane season milder than expected, said a forecaster for the NOAA. The NOAA’s Climate Prediction Centre (CPC) said the El Nino probably will spur warmer-than-average temperatures this winter over western and central Canada and the western and northern United States.It said El Nino also will cause wetter-than-average conditions in the US Gulf Coast and Florida, and spark dry conditions in the Ohio valley, the Pacific Northwest and most US islands in the tropical Pacific.In Asia and South America, the last severe El Nino killed hundreds of people and caused billions of dollars in damage as crops shriveled across the Asia-Pacific basin.This El Nino has caused drier-than-average conditions across Indonesia, Malaysia and most of the Philippines.The CPC Web site said surface temperatures were substantially warmer than normal by early September in the Pacific.Scientists detect formation of El Ninos by monitoring sea surface temperatures with a system of buoys.El Nino, which means ‘little boy’ in Spanish, hits once every three years or so.Nampa-AFPThe NOAA’s Climate Prediction Centre (CPC) said the El Nino probably will spur warmer-than-average temperatures this winter over western and central Canada and the western and northern United States.It said El Nino also will cause wetter-than-average conditions in the US Gulf Coast and Florida, and spark dry conditions in the Ohio valley, the Pacific Northwest and most US islands in the tropical Pacific.In Asia and South America, the last severe El Nino killed hundreds of people and caused billions of dollars in damage as crops shriveled across the Asia-Pacific basin.This El Nino has caused drier-than-average conditions across Indonesia, Malaysia and most of the Philippines.The CPC Web site said surface temperatures were substantially warmer than normal by early September in the Pacific.Scientists detect formation of El Ninos by monitoring sea surface temperatures with a system of buoys.El Nino, which means ‘little boy’ in Spanish, hits once every three years or so.Nampa-AFP

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