Tuesday, March 30, 2010

"El Nino to influence climate patterns to midyear: WMO" (Good for Haiti)

Later today we'll have more on the bets that insurers and re-insurers are making.
From Reuters:
The El Nino weather pattern warming the Pacific Ocean since June, has peaked, but is expected to influence climate patterns worldwide up to mid-year before dying out, the World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday.

However, the United Nations agency said that forecasting uncertainties meant it could not rule out the possibility that El Nino would persisting beyond mid-year.

El Nino, driven by an abnormal warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean, can create havoc in weather patterns across the Asia-Pacific region, unleashing droughts in some places and heavy storms in others.

"The most likely outcome by mid-2010 is for the El Nino event to have decayed and near-neutral conditions to be re-established across the tropical Pacific," WMO climate scientist Rupa Kumar Kolli told a news briefing....MORE

From the Associated Press: