El Nino forms in Pacific Ocean
POSTED: 2056 GMT (0456 HKT), September 13, 2006
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- 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 U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
said Wednesday.
El Nino has already helped make the Atlantic hurricane season milder than
expected, said a NOAA forecaster.
"The weak El Nino is helping to explain why the hurricane season is less than
we expected. El Ninos tend to suppress hurricane activity in the Atlantic,"
said Gerry Bell, a hurricane forecaster for NOAA.
The NOAA's Climate Prediction Center 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 U.S.
Gulf Coast and Florida, and spark dry conditions in the Ohio valley, the
Pacific Northwest and most U.S. 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.
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country with over 200 million people,
while nearly 90 million live in the Philippines. Both are major importers of
U.S. grains.
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.
"Currently, weak El Nino conditions exist, but there is a potential for this
event to strengthen into a moderate event by winter," Vernon Kousky, the
chief El Nino expert at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, said in a statement.
"The latest ... predictions indicate El Nino conditions for the remainder of
2006 and into the northern hemisphere spring [of] 2007," the CPC Web site
explained.
El Nino, which means "little boy" in Spanish, hits once every three years or
so. Anchovy fishermen in South America noticed the phenomenon in the 19th
century and named it for the Christ child since it appeared around Christmas,
and it normally peaks late in the year.
El Nino hinders hurricanes
One immediate impact of the El Nino is during the current Atlantic hurricane
season, which follows on the heels of the record 28 storms and 15 hurricanes
that struck in 2005.
Last year's storms included Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. But this El
Nino apparently has helped hinder storm formation in 2006. So far, there have
only been seven tropical storms and two hurricanes halfway through the
hurricane season, which begins June 1 and ends November 30.
Scientists said El Nino disrupts storm formation because it allows wind shear
to rip apart thunderstorms in the center of the hurricanes, reducing power
and intensity as a result.
U.S. Northeast in for milder winter
An El Nino also usually leads to milder winter weather in the U.S. Northeast,
the top heating oil market in the world.
Bell said scientists will have a better idea in the fall how long this El
Nino will last. "There's no way to say at this time how strong it is going to
be. It's too early," he said.
The last severe El Nino struck in 1997-1998. The weather phenomenon caused
searing drought in Indonesia, Australia and the Philippines while causing
rampant flooding in Ecuador and Chile, the world's top producer of copper.
(以上內容取自CNN.com)
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/09/13/weather.nino.reut/index.html
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