Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said the climate models it monitors indicate a possible return of the El Nino weather pattern, often linked to heavy rainfall and droughts, in the second half of 2012.

The last severe El Nino in 1998 killed more than 2,000 people and caused billions of dollars in damage to crops, infrastructure and mines in Australia and other parts of Asia.

PUNE: Weather scientists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology are studying high resolution climate projections over South Asian Monsoon region which is expected to contribute to future crop and water management and planning in India. The study undertaken is part of the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO) Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) for which Centre for Climate Change Research (CCCR) of IITM is acting as a nodal agency for South Asia.

The country is likely to see normal monsoon this year, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) officials have said, dissipating fears of any drought-like conditions. All indicators point towards a “normal monsoon” just like last year, said a ministry official on Tuesday. There is no adverse atmospheric or oceanic condition that may lead to deviation of monsoon from the normal range in the country this year, MoES officials said indicating there is no fear of a repeat of the 2009 drought-like conditions.

Human activity kept global temperatures close to a record high in 2011 despite the cooling influence of a powerful La Nina weather pattern, the World Meteorological Organization said on Friday.

On average, global temperatures in 2011 were lower than the record level hit the previous year but were still 0.40 degrees Centigrade above the 1961-1990 average and the 11th highest on record, the report said.

An international information system designed to improve and expand the exchange of data on weather, climate and water will help boost food security around the world, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The UN agency, which launched the system last month (31 January), said it would improve access to meteorological observations and products for stakeholders including the research and disaster risk reduction sectors.

THIS year could become one of the top 10 hottest since 1850, with global temperatures expected to be almost half a degree Celsius warmer in 2012 than the long-term (1961-1990) average of 14 degrees, the UK’s Met Office said on Wednesday.

The prediction follows provisional figures published by the Met Office and University of East Anglia last month, which showed that temperatures in 2011 were 0.36 degrees above the long-term average to make it the 11th warmest year on record.

This November, everyone wondered what happened to the winters. So far, the season has been rather lukewarm and promises to be so for the next month or so. With December already halfway through, are we headed for a shorter, warmer winter this time?