La Nina likely to develop soon, UN weather body says

The UN weather agency said yesterday that El Nino, which wreaks havoc around the Pacific and east Africa, has dissipated, but La Nina another disruptive weather phenomenon, is likely to develop.

"Following the rapid dissipation of El Nino in early May, cool-neutral to weak La Nina conditions have developed in the tropical Pacific," said the World Meteorological Organisation in a statement. "These conditions are more likely than not to strengthen into a basin-wide La Nina over the coming months."

The WMO said however, that "the timing and magnitude of such an event in 2010 are as yet uncertain".

La Nina is the opposition condition of El Nino. It is characterised by unusually cool ocean temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific.

In late 2008, it was blamed for icy conditions that claimed dozens of lives across Europe.

The weather phenomenon can also bring about strong rainfall in Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, as well as drought in South America.

El Nino, meanwhile, is characterised by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific.