El Nino

A recent report published by the agency on the health consequences of El Niño forecasts a rise in vector-borne diseases, including diseases spread by mosquitoes – which also include dengue and chikungunya – in Central and South America, particularly in Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina. Severe drought, flooding, heavy rains and temperature rises are all known effects of El Niño – a warming of the central to eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

The monsoon period starts this month until April with below average rainfall expected over the south coast of the country due to the El Nino induced weather, which will affect the Sirinumu Dam at Sogeri.

City residents run a high risk of running out of water come the period after the monsoon which is from May to July.

National Weather Service (NWS) director Samuel Maiha says we are into the monsoon period when rainfall starts to increase a bit and is also expected to increase the volume in the reservoir.

National Weather Service director Samuel Maiha says the country will experience rain throughout the country in the next three months but below the average rainfall.

The temperature for the next three months is expected to be very warm during the day and warmer than usual at night due to more cloud cover during the monsoon period.

Maiha confirmed that the current rainfall throughout PNG is very consistent with the outlook provided by weather experts at the APEC Climate Centre (APCC) in Busan, South Korea.

Cyclone Pali is currently above the equator in the ocean between the Marshall Islands and Kiribati, about 1300km southwest of Hawaii.

A forecaster at the US National Weather Service in Hawaii, Alistair Foster, says Pali is one of the earliest recorded in the central Pacifc, where the cyclone season is not due to begin for another five months.

Mr Foster says it's not unprecedented to have out-of-season cyclones in an El Niño year, with warm ocean temperatures allowing them to develop.

Shows like the Golden Globes are putting proper protection in place, while celebs, of course, will be stressing about how they look.

They call this hombre El Nino - a rare wet-weather phenomenon up from southern climes - and he blew in amid a flood of publicity this past week, with no plans to leave before making a likely splash at the Oscars on Feb. 28.

Dr David Askin of Kilu Consulting (New Zealand) said sweet potato weevil is the worst insect pest of kaukau that ruins storage roots (tubers) which rot with bitter taint.

Kaukau is the most important food crop in PNG with over 60% of the total population depending on it.

Dr Askin said when kaukau is infected with the weevil's larvae, even pigs won’t eat the storage roots.

His advice comes at a time when there are reports of the weevil causing great harm in PNG gardens, especially when communities are slowly recovering from food shortage caused by the drought.

The weather phenomenon is set to exacerbate droughts in some areas while increasing flooding in others.

Some of the worst impacts are likely in Africa with food shortages expected to peak in February.

Regions including the Caribbean, Central and South America will also be hit in the next six months.

Govt fails on parliament sitting rules: Polye

http://www.looppng.com/content/govt-fails-parliament-sitting-rules-polye

The Opposition is seeking legal opinion on the apparent shortfall on parliamentary sitting days in the 2015 parliamentary calendar.

Big El Nino effect recorded in November

This follows scientific reports that the long dry spell will last another 12 months and that available resources such as water and food may become scarce, pushing people to the edge of poverty and starvation.

Opposition Leader  Don Polye says necessary preparations must be made to prepare the city and the country to survive the prolonged El Nino period.

Mr Polye says reports by Eda Ranu, the water supplier, that the Sirinumu  dam had about 35% of water remaining to keep the city going till mid next year must not be taken lightly.

The El Nino drought has become a regional challenge with negative effects on subsistence livelihood, says Antoine Ravo, a senior agriculture officer with the Vanuatu Department of Agriculture. 

Ravo said agricultural food production has declined in villages as people cannot tend to their gardens due to lack of rainfall in the last several months.