WELLINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued an alert on Tuesday that the threshold for a La Nina would likely be reached in December.
The bureau pegged the chance of a La Nina at 70 percent, adding that all its models reached La Nina thresholds in December with most models suggesting it would last until at least February.
La Nina is characterised by cooler waters in the tropical Pacific.
It tends to deliver wet weather in the western Pacific in Australia and Malaysia and dry weather in Argentina.
The BOM said in the alert on its website that the event would likely be weaker and shorter than the strong La Nina that occurred between 2010 and 2012, which brought devatstating floods to Australia and was associated with a drought in the United States. The BOM said the current La Nina was not expected to increase Australian rain during its summer wet season.
A U.S. government weather forecaster this month said La Nina conditions are predicted to continue through the Northern hemisphere winter 2017-18.
