El Niño/La Niña Update (May 2011)
La Niña conditions continued across most of the tropical Pacific into early May
2011. After peaking in strength around January 2011, the oceanic components of
the episode weakened considerably, with a warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean
during March and April, approaching neutral conditions by mid-May. Despite this
warming, the atmospheric indicators remained at near record La Niña levels during
April, weakening only in early May.
