The drought-causing El Nino weather pattern has receded, but
its flip side, La Nina, might return and affect the Philippines, a senior
meteorologist said yesterday.
"El Nino is gone as shown by the return to neutral conditions
in the Pacific Ocean," Nathaniel Cruz, head of the Philippine Atmospheric
Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, told Reuters by phone.
Cruz, however, said his office was monitoring the possible
development of the rain-laden La Nina weather pattern in the next two to three
months as suggested by other international meteorological centers.
Last week, the US Climate Prediction Center of the National
Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said La Nina may form in the equatorial
Pacific in the next two to three months.
"It is not 100 percent definite that La Nina will come in
after El Nino," Cruz said, adding the Philippines was in the midst of its summer
which runs from March to early May.
About 20 typhoons hit the Philippine archipelago each year,
mostly during the rainy season that usually starts in late May and normally
lasts until September.
Cruz said Mindanao island in southern Philippines experienced
below-normal rain in November and December due to what meteorologists described
as a mild El Nino.
On the other hand, wide areas in Luzon and Visayas islands in
the northern and central part of the Philippine archipelago were battered by a
series of strong typhoons since September.
Cruz said the El Nino weather pattern that affected the
Philippines late last year followed the La Nina anomaly that started in November
2005 and lasted until early 2006.
La Nina, which is associated with increased rainfall, causes
storms and flooding in many parts of Asia. It was felt in the Philippines from
December 2005 till March 2006.
During that time, most parts of the Philippines experienced
above average rainfall, local meteorologists have said.
Mudslides triggered by heavy rains entombed a community of 1,800 in
Guinsaugon in Southern Leyte, in February 2006.
