El Niño/La Niña Update (March 2010)

The ongoing El Niño event continues to have significant and widespread impacts. 

The signature of this event, which started in June 2009, is seen in basin-wide 

Pacific Ocean conditions, and in many of the climate patterns around the world that 

are typically impacted by an El Niño event. The most likely outcome by mid-year 

2010 is for the El Niño event to have decayed and near-neutral conditions to be 

re-established across the tropical Pacific. However, this time of year (March-June) 

is a particularly difficult period for forecasting developments in the tropical Pacific, 

and forecasters cannot rule out persistence of El Niño or the possible early stages 

of La Niña by mid-year. Even during the decaying phase of the El Niño expected 

over the next few months, the conditions associated with it will continue to 

influence climate patterns at least through the second quarter of the year, and this 

information will be contained in the available national and regional seasonal climate 

forecast assessments.