The Australian Bureau of Meteorology yesterday said that the El Nino weather phenomenon, which can spark deadly and costly climate extremes, would pack a punch this year after declaring its onset in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
El Nino is associated with drought conditions in Australia and occurs when the trade winds that circulate over waters in the tropical Pacific start to weaken and sea surface temperatures rise. It is the weather system’s first appearance in five years.
“This is a proper El Nino effect; it is not a weak one,” Australian Bureau of Meteorology climate monitoring and prediction manager David Jones said. “You know, there is always a little bit of doubt when it comes to intensity forecasts, but across the models as a whole, we would suggest that this will be quite a substantial El Nino event.”
An El Nino had been predicted to start last year; officials said it was a “near miss.”
However, thresholds have now been hit in the tropical Pacific for the first time since March 2010.
“The onset of El Nino in Australia [this year] is a little earlier than usual. Typically El Nino events commence between June and November,” the bureau’s Neil Plummer added.
BUSHFIRE RISK
“Prolonged El Nino-like conditions have meant that some areas are more vulnerable to the impact of warmer temperatures and drier conditions,” Plummer said.
In Australia, El Nino is associated with below-average rainfall and warmer temperatures in much of the nation, and a higher bushfire risk — a particular concern for parts of Australia already in drought.
It is also expected to bring drier conditions to Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and parts of Southeast Asia, as well as heavier rainfall in the eastern Pacific and in South American nations, raising the specter of floods and landslides.
The phenomenon can cause havoc for farmers and global agricultural markets.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in