El Nino in 2015-1016 caused major droughts in the Mekong Delta, Central Highlands and South Central provinces of Vietnam - Illustrative image (Source: Internet)HoangPhuc Lam, head of the meteorological forecasting department at the NationalHydro-Meteorological Centre, said El Nino’s intensity would not be as strong asthe 2015-2016 period.
ElNino would reduce the number of storms and tropical depressions in the East Seaand directly affect the country’s mainland.
Accordingto the centre’s forecast the 2017 rainy season will see 13 to 15 storms andtropical depressions in the East Sea.
"Althoughthe number of storms and tropical depression will decrease, the risk of strongstorms is very high,” Lam said. “Localities should be prepared for a year ofunusual occurrence of storms. El Nino will last until the end of 2017."
Majormeteorological agencies in the world have forecast the possibility of El Ninomaking a major impact this year. The Australian Government’s Bureau ofMeteorology has warned the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) will reach thestart of the El Nino phenomenon around July with a probability of around 70 percent.
Internationalmeteorological agencies predict strong storms, even super storms, will likelyoccur in the East Sea this year.
TheClimate Prediction Center (CPC) and the National Centers for EnvironmentalPrediction (NCEP) the United States also forecast El Nino will occur in thefirst months of this summer through late 2017.
InVietnam, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported the last ElNino (from late 2015 to mid 2016) caused the biggest drought and salinityintrusion in over 100 years in the Mekong Delta, Central Highlands and SouthCentral provinces.-VNA
VNA
