SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s weather bureau said on Tuesday the chances of an El Nino weather event remained likely in coming weeks, which could bring hotter, drier weather.
El Nino, characterised by elevated sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, is associated with extreme weather phenomena, from tropical cyclones to intense rainfall and prolonged droughts.
The World Meteorological Organization said last month the weather pattern had emerged in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years.
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said in a release it was maintaining a weather alert that it said implied a 70% chance of the phenomenon occurring.
“When El Nino Alert criteria have been met in the past, an El Nino event has developed around 70% of the time,” it said.
El Nino typically suppresses rain in eastern Australia, which poses a risk to the region’s wheat crop.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; editing by Robert Birsel)
