By DENNIS ORERE
MOST parts of the country will experience little rainfall over the next four months and temperatures could soar.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said westward winds were causing dry conditions in the eastern parts of the country but with the arrival of the north-west monsoon, the situation should change.
Assistant director of research and climatology Sam Maiha said most parts would be dry, adding that PNG’s climate was in a transitional period, moving from a dry season to a wet season, similar to the 1996 condition before El Nino the following year.
Early this year, PNG and British meteorologists warned that 2007 could have been the hottest year ever recorded due to global warming and the El Nino weather phenomenon.
They said that temperatures were expected to rise by between 0.5 and one degree Celsius and PNG would average 33 degrees due to the suppression of the wet season by the prolonged dry season.
Meanwhile, British Meteorologist Katie Hopkins told the Australian media that PNG, among other countries, was set to experience a worldwide recorded temperature change in weather patterns.