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Washington, United States: The US climate prediction center said Thursday that the potentially powerful El Nino weather pattern is "likely to emerge soon" and could reach "very strong" levels later in the year.
Scientists at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in their latest monthly bulletin that there's an 82 percent chance El Nino will emerge between May and July and continue into next year.
And there's currently a more than 50 percent chance that it will become "strong" or "very strong" at some point from September through November, according to NOAA charts.
But scientists cautioned that "while confidence in the occurrence of El Nino has increased since last month, there is still substantial uncertainty in the peak strength of El Nino."
They also emphasized that "stronger events do not always mean bigger weather and climate impacts," though "stronger events can make it more likely that certain impacts could occur."
It's the latest forecast to raise concern over how the naturally occurring phenomenon could pile on to climate change impacts and leave populations worldwide vulnerable to extreme weather.
El Nino occurs around every two to seven years and is forecast based on sea temperatures.
