El Nino weather pattern appears to be continuing: Japan's weather bureau

Japan's weather bureau on Tuesday said the El Nino weather pattern appeared to be continuing, with a 70-percent chance it would stretch into the northern hemisphere summer. El Nino is a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific that typically happens every few years, sometimes causing crop damage, flash flooding or fires. The weather bureau said in November that the latest El Nino appeared to have formed.