Get The Umbrella And
Overcoat Ready As The
"Rainy Season" Expected
To Begin in April, One
Month Early
The "rainy season" or
winter will come early
this year, according to
the Instituto
Meteorologico Nacional (IMN)
- the national weather
service - and it all be
blamed on "La Niña".
Meteorologist Rosario
Alfaro explained that
the Central Valley will
see the first signs of
the rainy season which
is expected to begin the
second week in April, at
least a month earlier
than normal. The rest of
the country will see the
beginning of the rainy
season within the
following couple of
weeks.
La Niña is a coupled
ocean-atmosphere
phenomenon similar to El
Niño. During a period of
La Niña, the sea surface
temperature across the
equatorial Eastern
Central Pacific Ocean
will be lower than
normal by 0.5 °C. The
name La Niña originates
from Spanish, meaning
"the little girl",
analogous to El Niño
meaning "the little
boy".
La Niña is the weather
that has a wet weather.
Unlike El Niño, El Niño
has a dry weather.
There was a strong La
Niña episode during
1988-1989. La Niña also
formed in 1995, and in
1999-2000. The last La
Niña was a minor one,
and occurred 2000-2001.
Currently, there is a
moderate La Niña, which
began developing in
mid-2007.
In the face of the early
rainy season, the
Comisión Nacional de
Emergencias (CNE) -
national emergency
commission - is racing
to finish the repair
work caused by last
year's heavy rainy
season, so as to prevent
more disasters,
especially in high risk
areas. |
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