El Nino has ended as the tropical Pacific Ocean has returned to a neutral state, and outlooks are suggesting no chance of returning to an El Nino state. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said that means mid-May marks the end of the event that reduced Indian rainfall, parched farmland in Asia, and reduced cocoa harvest in parts of Africa. Weather watchers are now waiting for La Nina, a cooling of tropical Pacific waters that some view as the opposite of El Nino. The US Climate Prediction Center says there is a 75 percent chance it will develop by years’ end, but some models say it could develop sooner. La Nina can upset agricultural markets as it can change the weather, including more hurricanes in the Atlantic and produce more heavy rains in India and Indonesia. The El Nino that just ended was one of the hottest on record, generating the hottest global temperatures in more than 130 years.
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