El Nino likely to prevail:

Weak El Nino conditions are present and there is a 55-percent chance the weather pattern will prevail through the northern hemisphere spring this year, a US government weather forecaster said on Thursday.

The last El Nino, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific every few years, occurred from around 2015 to 2016, and caused weatherrelated crop damage, fires and flash floods.

“Due to the expected weak strength, widespread or significant global impacts are not anticipated. However, the impacts often associated with El Nino may occur in some locations during the next few months,” the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said in its monthly forecast. (RTRS)