CONTACT:  Stephanie Kenitzer                                  7/10/98
                    

                         MEDIA ADVISORY
                                
    LATEST EL NINO/LA NINA ADVISORY NOW AVAILABLE ON THE WEB

The latest El Nino/Southern Oscillation Advisory from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is available on the Internet.

According to the summary, the El Nino conditions that have persisted since April 1997 dissipated during May and June as water temperatures rapidly cooled in the central equatorial Pacific. The latest forecast models from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center and other statistical and coupled model forecasts indicate that the La Nina conditions will continue to strengthen in the tropical Pacific during the remainder of 1998 and continue through the northern 1998-99 winter.

La Nina features colder than normal sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean. According to the latest El Nino/Southern Oscillation Advisory released today by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, colder than normal water in the tropical Pacific Ocean spread eastward in the last month and the warmer than normal waters are now confined near the west coast of South America.

The advisory is available at: http://nic.fb4.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/index.html

The long-range outlook is available at: http://nic.fb4.noaa.gov/products/predictions/multi_season/13_seasonal_outlooks