AgWeb.com Editors

The Australian Bureau of Meteorologist says the La Nina event in the Pacific basin has continued to weaken during the past two weeks, with the surface of the equatorial Pacific warming by about 0.1 to 0.2°C.

"While western Pacific surface temperatures remain typical for a La Nina event, eastern Pacific temperatures have now been out of the La Nina range for the last five weeks," says the agency. "Below the surface, the cold water in the eastern Pacific has continued to warm and decrease in volume."

These observations from the eastern Pacific show a faster decline in La Nina conditions than was forecast by most computer models, they acknowledge. "Model predictions now show central to western Pacific temperatures warming back to the neutral range during the next one to three months. The models do not suggest El Nino conditions will return during 2008," says the agency.