Close Window
Weather-Disruptive El Niño to Last Into 2010 August 28, 2009
Temperature anomaly graphic
Above-normal ocean temperatures due to El Niño are clearly visible across the equitorial Pacific.
The U.N. weather agency predicts that the El NIño ocean-warming phenomenon strengthening in the tropical Pacific is likely to last well into next year, altering the world’s weather patterns.

Past El Niños have been associated with storms in California, drought in Australia and Indonesia and extremely heavy rainfall in East Africa, all at different times of the year.

"El Niño, which is established right now, is associated with weaker monsoons and also weaker cyclone (hurricane) season in the North Atlantic," World Meteorological Organization (WMO) scientist Rupa Kumar Kolli told reporters.

An acute drought currently parching South Asia has been due to very weak monsoon activity this summer, while El Niño was establishing.

But the WMO cautions that no two El Niños are alike, and that reliable predictions of what weather patterns are likely to do through the spring of 2010 are not yet available.

Graphic data: NOAA Satellite and Information Service