Experts expect weak La Niña weather phenomenon
Published: Wednesday, Dec 11th 2024, 14:00
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The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is seeing signs of the La Niña weather phenomenon, but only in a very weak form. The chances of it developing in the next two and a half months are 55 percent, according to the WMO in Geneva. La Niña generally has a cooling effect on the global climate.
La Niña (Spanish: the girl) is a phenomenon that occurs naturally every few years. It is the counterpart to El Niño (Spanish: the boy), whereby the equatorial Pacific Ocean heats up considerably. This influences winds, air pressure and rainfall and therefore the weather in many parts of the world. El Niño increases the global average temperature. La Niña describes exactly the opposite development.
At the beginning of this year, an El Niño was still detectable; according to the WMO, neutral conditions have prevailed since around May and are still ongoing. Nevertheless, it is already virtually certain that 2024 will be the hottest year since records began.
La Niña may not have developed yet because there were unusually strong westerly winds between September and early November, according to the WMO.
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