El Nino may return, says Forecaster

By PHOEBE GWANGILO
EL Nino could be experienced again this year, according to head of the National Weather Service office
“We have just come out of our El Nino and there has been some cooling in the Pacific, which means that we are actually going towards our El Nino at the moment, assistant director for Forecasting and Warning Centre Jimmy Gomoga told The National yesterday.
“There is about 50 per cent chance of us having El Nino this year but indications or the signals that we are monitoring are in the neutral stage, so it’ll be either be El Nino or La Nina,” he said.
“This means that the ocean and the atmosphere are at a neutral stage.”
Gomoga said that Port Moresby was in its driest month of the year and that was why it was much cooler than previous months while parts of Mamose and New Guinea Islands wereopposite.
“So, the southern part is experiencing much colder wind around this time of the year,” he said.
For New Guinea Islands, there has been some rain, mostly due to sea temperature being warmer around the New Guinea Island and North Coast. “So, there have been some rain in the northern part of the country,” Gomoga said.