Disasterous La Nina Weather Phenomenon Looming

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

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Perilous Times and Global Warming

Disastrous La Nina Weather Phenomenon Looming*

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by Staff Writers
Geneva (AFP) April 02, 2007

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Friday that a
disastrous La Nina weather pattern in the Pacific basin was looming this
year but might not take shape for another two to three months.

La Nina, effectively a drop in sea surface temperatures off the western
coast of South America, can cause havoc with weather patterns in many
parts of the globe.

"There is a definite indication of La Nina, but the timing is not
clear," WMO scientist Rupa Kumar Kolli told journalists

The Geneva-based WMO said in an report that it had started to detect
first signs of a shift in February, with a drop in eastern Pacific sea
temperatures to below normal, although surface winds were staying the same.

It said the chances of it developing within two to three months were "weak."

Previous La Nina's have been associated with drier weather in the
southern United States and western Latin America, and above-average
rainfall to Australia and South East Asia.

But there can also be a knock-on much further afield, with an increase
to monsoon rainfall in the Indian subcontinent, and cold weather in
tropical West Africa, Southeast Africa, Japan and the Korean peninsula.

The shift follows the dissipation of the notorious El Nino, a warming of
Pacific sea surface temperatures that was blamed for a lengthy drought
in Australia, flooding in the Horn of Africa and Bolivia, and more
severe winter monsoons in South Asia for much of the past year.

Source: Agence France-Presse