Researchers say weak El Nino under way, forecast strengthening in fall and winter

October 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A long-term study has shown that El Nino, a global climate pattern, drives Sulfur butterfly migrations across the Panama Canal. Climate change has been linked to changes in the migration of butterflies in North America and Europe but this is one of the first long-term studies of environmental factors driving long-distance migration of tropical butterflies.

September 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists have determined that El Nino, the periodic eastern Pacific phenomenon credited with shielding the US and Caribbean from severe hurricane seasons, may be overshadowed by its brother in the central Pacific due to global warming. "There are two El Ninos, or flavors of El Nino," said Ben Kirtman, co-author of the study and professor of meteorology and physical oceanography at the University of Miami's Rosentstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

September 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research conducted at Texas A and M University, US, has shown evidence of a possible link between El Nino and a severe flu pandemic in 1918 that adversely affected India. The findings are based on analysis of the 1918 El Nino, which the new research shows to be one of the strongest of the 20th century.

September 1st, 2009 Study: Swine flu easily overtakes other strainsWASHINGTON — Put swine flu in a room with other strains of influenza and it doesn't mix into a new superbug — it takes over, researchers reported Tuesday. University of Maryland researchers deliberately co-infected ferrets to examine one of the worst fears about the new swine flu.

August 19th, 2009 UN reports 'weak to moderate' El Nino in PacificGENEVA — A "weak to moderate" El Nino weather system has developed in the tropical Pacific Ocean and could create unusual weather patterns around the world through March, a U.N. agency said Wednesday.

August 6th, 2009 US forecasters lower Atlantic hurricane outlookMIAMI — The Atlantic hurricane season will be less active than originally predicted, government forecasters said Thursday after the first two months of the half-year stretch passed without any named storms developing. Updating its May outlook, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a warmer weather pattern called an El Nino over the Pacific Ocean was acting as a damper to tropical storms in the Caribbean and neighboring Atlantic.

July 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON — El Nino's back. Government scientists say the periodic warming of water in the tropical Pacific Ocean that can affect weather around the world has returned.

July 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - New data from NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander has revealed that every night during the Martian winter, water-ice crystals fall from high, thin clouds over the north pole, just like "diamond dust" that falls through the air in the Arctic. According to a report in National Geographic News, the clouds resemble cirrus clouds on earth and the precipitation is similar to ice crystals that fall through the air in the Arctic in the middle of winter, called diamond dust.

July 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A study by climatologists at the Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that a new form of El Nino may be changing potentially causing not only a greater number of hurricanes than in average years, but also a greater chance of hurricanes making landfall. "Normally, El Nino results in diminished hurricanes in the Atlantic, but this new type is resulting in a greater number of hurricanes with greater frequency and more potential to make landfall," said Peter Webster, professor at Georgia Tech's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

July 2nd, 2009 New form of El Nino may increase Atlantic stormsWASHINGTON — El Nino may have a split personality. The warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean has long been known to affect weather around the world, but researchers now say it may come in two forms with different impacts.

June 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study by researchers at the University of Georgia, US, has determined that global warming may mean dry autumns and winters that may lead to fewer tornadoes in the spring. The study pins down, possibly for the first time, how drought conditions in an area's fall and winter may affect tornado activity the following spring.

June 8th, 2009 Forecasters say El Nino may be developingWASHINGTON — A new El Nino could be approaching. Sea-surface temperatures have been warming in the tropical Pacific Ocean, suggesting the potential for the development of the El Nino climate phenomenon this summer, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

May 13th, 2009 US winter wheat forecast down about 20 percentWICHITA, Kan. — The nation's farmers are expected to harvest about 20 percent less winter wheat this season, in part because of fewer planted acres and exacerbated by floods and other weather conditions, the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service said.

April 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Only half the people understand what a forecast means when it predicts a 20 percent chance of rain, according to researchers at the University of Washington. Susan Joslyn, a UW cognitive psychologist and senior lecturer, has revealed that the majority of people think it means that it will rain over 20 percent of the area covered by the forecast or for 20 percent of the time period covered by the forecast.

January 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Seasons are already arriving 48 hours ahead of schedule, even as the globe gets hotter, according to a new study by California Berkeley (UC-B) and Harvard Universities. Besides global warming, human activity may have also hastened the cycle of seasons, said Alexander R.