El Nino Could Lead To Harsh Winter For Britain

A significant rise in water temperature in the Pacific Ocean is likely to have a major impact on the world's weather over the coming months, Australian experts have warned.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said the eastern Pacific is in the early stages of a "substantial" El Nino event, the first in five years.

The rising water temperature alters wind and rainfall patterns and is likely to lead to drought in Australia, drier conditions in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and floods on the Pacific coast of the Americas.

It could also result in a harsh winter for the UK; during the last El Nino in 2009/10, Britain suffered heavy snowfall.

David Jones, a climatologist at the Bureau, which has been on the look-out for the event, said: "This will be quite a substantial El Nino event.

"This isn't a weak one, or a near miss as we saw last year."

An El Nino starts when warm Pacific waters shift to the east and the trade winds that normally bring rain to Australia and Asia peter out.

The Bureau expects the weather disruption to peak in the Southern Hemisphere's spring and early summer and last until February.

It also said 2015 is now likely to be the warmest year on record, topping the highs of 2014.

The scientists stressed that while an El Nino increases the likelihood of significant weather disruption, other factors could modify the effects.