This year, we are expected to become witnesses to El Niño, and the consequences of the climatic phenomenon will be quite serious, reports the Met Office of the UK, quoted by the newspaper Independent.
El Niño is a phase of Southern Oscillation (variations of the temperature on the surface layer of the water in the equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean) where the regions of warm water move eastward.
It is presumed that India and Australia will be the most affected. In addition, a cold winter is to menace the population of North and West Europe.
It is expected that the scarce amount of monsoon rains in India will lead to an exceptionally dire situation. Reps from the Met Office of the UK state, "So far the summer monsoons have confirmed our prognoses."
In India, the season started relatively late and the rains that fell over a great portion of its territory were about 50% less than the average rains for June. This automatically means that this year in India there will be a minimum crop yield and a rise in the prices of food products.
During El Niño, the trade winds dwindle near the shores of Peru, the warm waters from the western part of the Pacific Ocean head eastward, taking the rains with them as well.
That is why severe droughts are seen in India, Indonesia and Australia, while heavy rains fall in South America and Oceania, surpassing the normal amount. Because of these torrential rains however, there is also a highly increased risk of mudslides and floods.
On the flip side, El Niño will bring long-awaited rains to the western states of the US, which have been suffering from drought.
The information, given by British meteorologists, came just a few days after the UN announced that there is about an 80% chance for the climatic phenomenon El Niño to begin in October. There is however a 60% chance for it to occur in August.
As a general rule of thumb, prognoses for El Niño consist of forecasting unusual climatic phenomena in large areas, which continue for months on end.
Early forecasting, related to El Niño, helps people prepare for the changes to come and to deal with them more easily.
