Following a damaging El Nino weather period, a U.S. government weather
forecaster on Thursday said the La Nina weather phenomenon is favored to
develop during August through October 2016.
The Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the National Weather
Service, said in its monthly forecast there is a 55 percent to 60 percent
chance that the La Nina weather phenomenon will develop during the fall
and winter of 2016/17.
Last month, the CPC forecast that La Nina was favored to develop during
the Northern Hemisphere's summer with a 75 percent chance of it developing
in the fall and winter.
La Nina, which is typically less damaging than El Nino, is characterized by
unusually cold ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
It tends to occur unpredictably every two to seven years. Severe
occurrences have been linked to floods and droughts.
Near-to below-average surface temperatures across the eastern equatorial
Pacific Ocean were observed during the past month, the CPC said.
Last month, the agency said that El Nino conditions, a warming of
sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific that has been linked to crop
damage, fires and flash floods over the past year, had largely disappeared.
No comments:
Post a Comment