GENEVA — The current La Nina weather phenomenon may just be a partial cause of South China’s freeze-up at the start of 2008, said the United Nations World Meteorological Agency (WMO) Monday.
The latest La Nina pattern, which began in the third quarter of 2007, has picked up strength in the past three months, with sea surface temperatures now about 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius colder than average over large parts of the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean, said the latest report issued by the WMO.
A rescuer carries an 80-year-old woman out of Jinlian village in Longnan county, East China’s Jiangxi Province, Feb. 3, 2008. After being trapped for days in frozen weather and without electricity and water supply, 1,761 people in the village were rescued successfully on Sunday. [Xinhua]
Read moreWMO: La Nina may be partial cause of S China’s freeze-up