Pacific Ocean temperatures have cooled over the last two weeks, easing away from El Nino thresholds, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said on January 06. Ocean temperatures have oscillated near El Nino thresholds for several months but over recent weeks have again eased, the Australian weather agency said.
Sea surface temperature anomalies have cooled by around 0.4 degrees in the parts of central to eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, the BOM said. However, temperatures remain above average along much of the equator, the Australian weather agency said.
Beneath the surface, temperatures have also eased closer to average in many areas, the BOM said.
Despite the cooling indicators, the BOM said its climate models continue to show warmer-than-average sea temperatures persisting over the next two-to-three months. Japan in December declared an El Nino, marking the first declaration by a major meteorological bureau of the much-feared weather phenomenon, which had been widely expected to emerge this year.