LIMA, Peru - Sea temperatures in the southeastern Pacific show no sign of bringing extreme "El Nino" weather conditions in the next two months, Peru's Maritime Institute (IMARPE) said on Tuesday.
"The forecast for the southeastern Pacific in the next two months is normal," IMARPE President Hugo Arevalo told a news conference following a meeting of scientists from Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru and the United States.
"We hope that the slight warming of sea temperatures will have a minor effect on rainfall patterns," he added.
Equatorial currents are expected to raise sea temperatures by up to 2 degrees Celsius around the northern Peruvian port of Paita between February and March, bringing some rain and temporarily driving anchovies away from the coast. Anchovy is the raw material for fishmeal, a cattle feed of which Peru is the world's biggest producer.
El Nino is a periodic, abnormal warming of water in the Pacific Ocean that can last up to 18 months.
A harsh El Nino in 1997-98 triggered severe drought in Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia and heavy flooding in Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
