Stockman Gordon Litchfield surveys the bottom of a dry dam on his property on June 7, 2005 in Leigh Creek, Australia. Australia is enduring its worst drought in decades in part due to the increasing temperatures and the El Nino weather phenomenon.Ian Waldie—Getty Images
The El Niño weather phenomenon that has previously devastated the Western Pacific and parts of Australia now has a 90% chance of striking again this year according to a recent report by the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). This weather anomaly is characterized by an unusual warming of the Pacific Ocean and has caused intense hurricanes and drought in the past. But what can we expect from the phenomenon this summer?
South Asia will likely be hit first with heavy rain and flooding. Drought conditions in Australia and a drop in the fish population off of the west coast of South America will follow. El Niño also damages the agricultural industries in countries surrounding the Pacific Ocean such as Indonesia, and the Philippines. Efforts are currently being made in some of these regions to lessen the impending impact that El Niño will have.
The results of the El Niño events in 1997-1998 were by far the worst in recent history, but unlike thunderstorms and snowstorms forecasters have little ability to predict how intense future El Niño episodes will be. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) it is also near impossible to pinpoint the exact dates that El Niño will begin.
Within the next month more details regarding El Niño and when it will begin will become clearer. In the meantime people around the world will begin to gather resources and prepare themselves.
The water rising in Pathum Thani, Thialand while people try to adapt to a new day-to-day routine without basic facilities on Oct. 29, 2011.Roland Neveu—LightRocket/Getty ImagesFruto Garcia walks on the ground cracked by drought in the Las Canoas Lake, Nicaragua on April 8, 2010. The lack of rain caused by the El Nino meteorological phenomena decreased water level in Las Canoas Lake, located in the center of Nicaragua, affecting approximately eight thousand people who live in the surrounding areas.Oswaldo Rivas—Reuters/CorbisA fisherman does maintenance works on his boat that sits on the dried bed of the Negro river, Brazil on October 22, 2010. Due to the El Nino climate phenomenon, the Negro river is 20 cm from hitting the 1963 record level, the lowest in a century.Euzivaldo Queiroza—AFP/Getty ImagesCattle gather on a strip of dry land in low-lying areas of the Bolivian Amazon, after heavy rains from the El Nino weather phenomenon on Feb 22, 2007 in Beni, Bolivia. The rains affected 350,000 people, destroyed valuable agriculture and killed 23,000 cattle. Martin Alipaz—EPA/CorbisA luxury home in Laguna Niguel Calif. slips down a hillside eroded on March 19, 1998 by heavy El Nino generated rains. Two homes and seven condominiums have been destroyed in the slide and several more were threatened with destruction. Vince Bucci—AFP/Getty ImagesA resident grieves while sitting by the ruins of her neighbor' house s on March 3, 1999 after it collapsed killing one person during a landslide triggered by recent torrential rains. Some 28 people have died in Sao Paulo since the beginning of 1999 as a direct consequence of the disastrous weather caused by the weather phenomenon known as "La Nina." Marie Hippenmeyer —AFP/Getty ImagesStockman Gordon Litchfield surveys the bottom of a dry dam on his property on June 7, 2005 in Leigh Creek, Australia. Australia is enduring its worst drought in decades in part due to the increasing temperatures and the El Nino weather phenomenon.Ian Waldie—Getty ImagesXiomara Herrera, 13, enters her flooded home in El Porvenir, Colombia,on Dec. 9, 2011. Torrential rains have caused devastating floods and widespread damage in the country for much of the past two years. Meteorologists blame the rains on La Nina.Carlos Julio Martinez—APAerial view of a flooded area in Trinidad, Beni, Bolivia on Feb. 24, 2007. Authorities say two months of rain and floods left 35 people dead, 10 unaccounted for, and affected hundreds of thousands of people. The disaster, blamed on the "El Nino" weather phenomenon, also has caused millions of dollars in material losses.Aizar Ralder—AFP/Getty ImagesA man attempts to excavate an old car buried by a mudslide, most likely triggered by El Nino-induced rains on January 1, 1981.Jim Suga—CorbisEcuadorean Farmer Wenseslao Plaza, rests on his living room furniture in flood waters in Milagro, Ecuador on March 1, 1998. The Plaza family is one of a hundreds that have been affected as a result of the El Nino weather phenomenon that has brought heavy rains. ReutersWildfire rips through a forest surrounding the village of Ixtacamaxtitlan, Mexico on May 18, 1998. Months of El Nino-related drought caused one of the worst fire seasons in Mexico and Central America.ReutersA worker carries a sack of rice inside the National Food Authority Warehouse in Quezon City, the Philippines on Aug. 16, 2010. Farm production in the country went down 2.59 percent in the first half due to the El Nino phenomenon,Rouelle Umali—Xinhua Press/CorbisWhen El Nino affected the west coast of North America in Jan 1981-1982, this section of Highway One was washed out in Half Moon Bay, California on Jan. 1, 1981.Jim Sugar—CorbisThree men help a woman trying to cross the overflowing Nepena River in Chimbote, Peru on Feb. 26, 1998. The meteorological phenomenon El Nino created ravaging weather conditions that killed many throughout Peru. Josue Fernandez—EPA/Corbis
