The nation may experience a warmer winter this year as temperatures in the middle of the Pacific Ocean have risen since July -- a sign of the possible return of the "El Nino" effect, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).
"El Nino" refers to the warming of the ocean's surface off the western coast of South America that occurs every four to 12 years. It kills sea animals, changes the course of storms and creates other unusual effects in global weather patterns.
The term is the Spanish word for "the Christ child," as the phenomenon is usually observed around Christmas.
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He said that experts in US and Australia are inclined to believe that the phenomenon will be less forceful this time than during the last occurrence almost a decade ago.
Wu noted that should El Nino strike again, it would not necessarily have a noticeable day-to-day effect in Taiwan. It simply means that the average temperatures during the wintertime are higher when compared to those in the past, he said.
He added that El Nino is not the only factor that could contribute to rising temperatures in the wintertime.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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