July 20, 2007 — The U.N.'s weather agency on Friday said a disruptive La Nina climate pattern was taking shape in the Pacific, raising the prospect of an active Atlantic hurricane season and strong monsoons in Asia.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a statement that the development of La Nina in the second half of 2007 was now "more likely than not" after an initial hesitation in the past two months.
The combination of tropical wind patterns over the Pacific Ocean and cooler than normal sea temperatures off the Pacific seaboard of Latin America generally has an impact "of planetary scale," WMO scientist Rupa Kumar Kolli said.
"La Nina conditions are frequently associated with stronger monsoon rainfall and flooding in Asia and... higher frequency of hurricanes in the Atlantic," he told journalists.
"Now things seem to be on track for the development of La Nina, but it is likely to be a weak La Nina event rather than a strong one."
However, the WMO highlighted other unusual climatic conditions in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean which could reinforce the disruption to local weather in the coming months.
