Due to the arrival of El Niño, the number of hurricanes affecting the Eastern United States may be less this year, while the U.S. Southwest may experience greater rainfall. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials announced July 9 that El Niño, a climate phenomenon with a significant influence on global weather, ocean conditions and marine fisheries, has returned and is expected to last through the winter of 2009-2010.
El Niño’s negative impacts have included damaging winter storms in California and increased storminess across the southern United States. Some past El Niños have also produced severe flooding and mudslides.
But an announcement by the NOAA also points out that the effects of this phenomenon are not all negative. An El Niño can suppress Atlantic hurricane activity.
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