The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said it saw unprecedented signs pointing to a looming La Nina, a phenomenon that originates off the western coast of South America but can disrupt weather patterns in many parts of the globe. In a press release, the Geneva-based agency said temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific had been between 0.5 and 1.0 C (0.9 and 1.8 F) below normal since the start of the 2006. “Combined with broader tropical Pacific ocean and atmosphere conditions, this is consistent with the early stages of a basin-wide La Nina event,” it said. “(…) It is unprecedented in the historical record for a La Nina of substantial intensity or duration to develop so early in the year.” La Nina, which has the opposite effects to the more notorious El Nino, last occurred from mid-1998 to early 2001. Under La Nina, the sea-surface temperature in the central and eastern tropical Pacific falls below normal. This typically brings far dryer weather to the southwestern United States, Florida and western Latin America and above-average rainfall to Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. But there can also be a knock-on much further afield, […]