Global meteorologists from the U.S to the UK to Australia have been predicting an El Nino weather pattern to materialize this summer. El Ninos can cause drought in Southeast Asia and Australia, affect the Monsoon in India and cause excessive rain in other regions of the world disrupting global crop production. Now meteorologists are amending their predictions with the Commodity Weather Group stating that the chances that the system will be weak stand at 65%, while forecasters at AccuWeather, Streit, and Mohler state that the probability of a weak event stand at 80% because of a weakening of the pool of warm water below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The strongest El Nino on record since 1950 occurred in 1997/98 which raised the global temperature by 1.2 degrees to an all-time high for that period of 58.1 degrees, and the El Nino of 2006/07 cut Australian wheat production in half, cut Indonesia’s coffee production, and caused drought across the Asia-Pacific region.
To receive relevant news stories with summaries provided by GAI Research & Insight, subscribe to Global AgDevelopments, our free weekly enhanced eNews service