NEW YORK, N.Y. (Reuters) — A U.S. government weather forecaster has said that previously predicted La Nina conditions have arrived and are slightly favoured to persist into the Northern Hemisphere for the coming winter.
The Climate Prediction Center, an agency of the National Weather Service, said in a monthly forecast that it observed La Nina conditions during October and sees a 55 percent chance they will persist through the winter.
Last month, the agency pegged the chance of La Nina developing this fall at 70 percent.
If it occurs, it will likely cause a traditional cold winter on the Canadian Prairies and raise temperatures and reduce precipitation in the southern United States.
Typically less damaging than El Nino, La Nina is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and tends to occur unpredictably every two to seven years. Severe occurrences have been linked to floods and droughts.
