El Nino Expected to Continue Into 2007
Pastor Dale Morgan
Nov 9, 2:59 PM EST
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El Nino Expected to Continue Into 2007*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The unusual warming of water in the Pacific Ocean
known as El Nino is expected to continue into winter, affecting weather
in North America, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
said Thursday.
The federal Climate Prediction Center said the result could be warmer
than normal temperatures over western and northern United States and
western and central Canada.
In addition, in a typical El Nino conditions would be wetter than normal
in the U.S. Gulf Coast and Florida and drier than average in the Ohio
Valley and Pacific Northwest.
Other El Nino effects include unusually dry weather over most of
Malaysia, Indonesia, some of the U.S.-affiliated islands in the tropical
North Pacific, northern South America and southeastern Africa, and
wetter-than-average conditions over equatorial East Africa, central
South America - including Uruguay, northeastern Argentina and southern
Brazil - and along the coasts of Ecuador and northern Peru, the agency said.
El Ninos develop every few years when tropical Pacific waters warm,
changing wind and weather patterns and affecting air pressure, resulting
in climate changes in much of the world.
The condition was named El Nino by South American fishermen, who tended
to first notice the change near Christmas time. El Nino is Spanish for
little boy, a reference to the baby Jesus.
The latest forecast calls for El Nino to continue into spring, the
agency said.
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