The Australian Bureau of Meteorology says the tropical Pacific Ocean remains neutral - neither El Niño nor La Niña. All dynamical models surveyed by the bureau suggest that sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the tropical Pacific will maintain in the neutral range for the remainder of 2012 and into the first quarter of 2013.
“The central to eastern Pacific has cooled somewhat over the past month, with SSTs now close to their long-term average. Atmospheric indicators of ENSO, such as the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), trade winds and cloudiness near the Date Line have shown some fluctuations recently, but have also continued at neutral levels,” states the bureau. “Further falls are expected in the SOI over the coming days, as a result of the tropical weather system which spawned TC Evan.”
