SYDNEY, Sept 19 — The Australian Bureau of Meteorology on Tuesday formally declared an El Nino weather event, two months after the World Meteorological Organisation announced that El Nino conditions developed in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years, reported Xinhua.
Speaking at a media conference on Tuesday afternoon, Australian Bureau of Meteorology manager (climate monitoring), Karl Braganza, told reporters that after issuing an El Nino Watch in March and then elevating it to alert in June, the bureau has been waiting for the atmosphere to couple with the ocean in the El Nino pattern.
“In the last two weeks, we have seen the atmosphere over the tropical Pacific respond to that pattern and lock in a coupling of the ocean-atmosphere,” said Braganza.
He added that a positive Indian Ocean Dipole event is also underway in Australia.
“When these things occur together, it tends to increase the rainfall deficiencies in the southeast of the continent over spring,” the expert noted.
According to the latest Climate Driver Update, the declaration of two weather events and their concurrence over spring reinforces the bureau’s long-range rainfall and temperature forecasts of warmer and drier conditions for much of Australia over the next three months.
The bureau underlined that when a positive Indian Ocean Dipole and El Nino coincide, their drying effect is typically stronger and more widespread across Australia.
“El Nino tends to impact global temperatures from now until the middle of next year. Unfortunately, we’ll probably see a continuation of the global heat up until the middle of 2024,” said Braganza.
— Bernama-Xinhua
