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#JustIn: El Niño could form soon

Elvira Hattingh
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has just issued a new outlook status announcing that there are signs that El Niño conditions may form during the coming winter.

El Niño conditions are associated with more unpredictable and often weaker rainfall in Namibia.

According to the bureau, there is about a 50% chance that an El Niño could form soon - this is double the normal probability of 25%.

The bureau accordingly changed their watch status to an El Niño watch. Currently, conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean are still neutral, while the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is also still neutral. However, the bureau says climate models indicate that a positive IOD index could develop in the coming months.

This means the Indian Ocean's sea surface temperatures could be warmer than normal, which could lead to the formation of cyclones.

The bureau announced on March 14 that the La Niña weather phenomenon had finally broken up after dominating global weather systems over the past three years.

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-19

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