New Zealand’s weather institute revealed on Friday the weather pattern El Nino had come and was anticipated to result to high winds, intense and thick temperature transformations and constant thick downpour over the coming three months. Warmer temperatures are likely in the east of both of the nation’s prominent islands, New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) said.
“Spells of unseasonable warmth from Australian air masses will mostly be shadowed by intensely frosty southerlies, with little middle ground,” it said in a statement. Downpour is most likely to be below average in the north and east of the North Island, and above normal in the west of the South Island, Niwa said. El Nino could create an effect on milk production and bring down the rate of animal growth in New Zealand, which is a prominent dairy and meat exporter.
The annoumcement of El Nino follows three consecutive years of La Nina, the counter weather pattern that resulted in more downpour and lower temperatures to the northern and eastern parts of the nation, and an unprecedented number of tropical and subtropical storms. Auckland, a city of 1.6 million, was highly impacted with particular flash flooding and landslides in late January that took away precious lives of four people, destroyed roads and caused houses to shed.