Posted on 08/06/2004 8:24:31 AM PDT by socal_parrot
WASHINGTON – Warming water temperatures in the central equatorial Pacific last month may indicate the start of a new El Niño.
El Niño, which can affect weather conditions around the world, is often first seen as increased sea surface temperatures in the Pacific along with changes in wind patterns.
Sea surface temperatures rose nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit above normal in July, with even higher readings to the east, the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center said on Thursday.
The temperature increases, the agency said, "indicate the possible early stages of a warm episode."
The report noted that the normal easterly winds in mid-June through early July weakened in many areas of the equatorial Pacific.
"At this time it is not clear what, if any, impacts this event will have on ocean temperatures in the classical El Niño region along the west coast of South America," the agency said.
El Niños were first observed along the South American coast and named by fishermen noticing a decline in their catch.
As researchers studied the phenomenon, they found that El Niño – which combines changes in temperature, wind and air pressure over the Pacific – can change the flow of the atmosphere. El Niño effects range from drought in Indonesia, Australia and Africa, to storms in California and floods elsewhere.
The 1997 El Niño caused an estimated $20 billion in damage worldwide.
On the Net:
Climate Prediction Center: www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/
Is this the third or fourth year in a row that they've been predicting an El Nino condition? They're bound to be right one of these years.
/sarcasm
It's Bush fault for not accepting Kyoto.
Oh my God! El Nino! ... Paging Al Gore, paging Al Gore...
Good we could use a mild winter here in Ohio.
It DOES seem like we've been hearing about this year after year.
It might be nice for them to be wrong one more year and give the burn areas from last fall a chance to get more foliage.
this is the direct result of the mixture of hot-air spewing from the liberals' mouths and the cold-hearted commies of east asia. is it any coincidence this happens in the pacific?
But whether warm water translates to rain is anyone's guess.
Women, children, and minorities hardest hit.
Headline:
Bush Failure on Kyoto causes El Nino
We could use a little warmth here in Michigan. It got down into the 40s last night and hasnt gotten above 65 degrees yet today. It is August right?
solution: prevent el nino by implementing affirmative action. give the smaller, minority storms a chance for once!
Lived in Watertown once. They had plenty of “moisture” but you got it in its frozen form. Snowing-est place I’ve ever seen.
Well, it snows a lot in Wyoming too but it all gets blown into Nebraska or somewhere. It doesn't really accumulate.
If you want to see rain just go to southeast Texas or southwest Louisiana. You'll see plenty.
LOL. I was at UC Santa Barbara for a function and saw a sign that said that the university yearbook, "La Cumbre" was available. I started asking around as to what La Cumbre meant and no one knew. Although one graduating student did tell me he thought "it means 'the' something".
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