6 month dry spell may hit Malaysia

A dry spell lasting about six months may hit Malaysia as a 70 percent probability of El Nino striking Southeast Asia this year was forecast by the United Kingdom Meteorological Office lately. Malaysian meteorological department director general Datuk Che Gayah Ismail confirmed that the World Meteorology Organistrum, United Nations, is now monitoring El Nino. Meanwhile, Abdull Rahim Mohd Yusoff, who is Environment and Water Resource Management Institute director at University Teknologi Malaysia, said El Nino normally occurs once every two to four years, and its signs were observed early this year when the rainfall was less than 50 cm in many areas of the country. El Nino is a band of anomalously warm ocean water temperatures that periodically develops off the Pacific coast of South America. The phenomenon results in fluctuating temperatures, droughts, floods, and crop yields in varying regions of the world. The phenomenon struck Malaysia in 1998, during which record high temperature of 40.1 degrees Celsius was recorded at the Chuping meteorological station in Perlis on April 9, that year.