Weak El Niño likely to prevail through spring: U.S. forecaster
(Reuters) - Weak El Niño conditions are present and there is a 55-percent chance the weather pattern will prevail through the northern hemisphere spring this year, a U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday.
The last El Niño, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific every few years, occurred from around 2015 to 2016, and caused weather-related crop damage, fires and flash floods.
"Due to the expected weak strength, widespread or significant global impacts are not anticipated. However, the impacts often associated with El Nino may occur in some locations during the next few months," the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said in its monthly forecast.
While the chance of the weather phenomenon emerging during spring was pegged at 65 percent in the CPC's forecast early last month, the latest data showed El Niño conditions formed in January.
El Niño can affect rainfall and temperature patterns in many regions, with important consequences for agricultural and food security sectors, according to the United Nations World Meteorological Organization.
(Reporting by Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
