El Nino likely to develop by summer and autumn 2017: US weather forecaster

El Nino conditions have been projected to hit the Northern Hemisphere from the summer to fall of 2017. PHOTO: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

BENGALURU (Reuters) - A US government weather forecaster on Thursday (May 11) projected the possibility of neutral or El Nino conditions as nearly equally favoured in the Northern Hemisphere during the summer and fall this year.

The Climate Prediction Centre (CPC), an agency of the National Weather Service, in its monthly forecast said relative to last month, the forecaster consensus reflects slightly lower chances of El Nino development.

The last El Nino, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific that typically occurs every few years, went away in 2016 and was linked to crop damage, fires and flash floods.

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