La Nina Event Takes Root in Australia; Country Braces for a Stormy Summer | The Weather Channel – Articles from The Weather Channel

The BoM’s climate modelling suggested that the event would likely last through to the beginning of Australia’s autumn in March, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meaning “the girl” in Spanish, La Nina is a complex weather phenomenon occurring every few years.

Extreme weather expert Milton Speer from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) told Xinhua the announcement was of little surprise given the type of weather Australia’s eastern states had already been experiencing.

Parts of New South Wales (NSW), Queensland and Victoria have already experienced heavy rains and flooding, with the BoM announcing that October rain levels were 8% above normal levels.

Further to this, the BoM recorded its first tropical cyclone, Cyclone Paddy, on Tuesday morning off the coast of Christmas Island above Australia’s northwest coast.

Speer told Xinhua that higher ocean surface temperatures to Australia’s north had been a vital sign of the coming event.

Speer said that residents across Queensland and NSW should brace for consistent, heavy rain and storms throughout the summer.

He also said rising temperatures due to global warming could see such weather events become even more extreme in Australia.

“One of the factors in climate change is the warming up of the oceans, particularly in the tropical Equatorial areas. So there just seems to be more available moisture.”

Australia’s last major La Nina event was between the summers of 2010 and 2012 and resulted in some of the wettest years ever recorded and widespread flooding.

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The above article has been published from a wire agency with minimal modifications to the headline and text.