Posted at 11:33 a.m. PDT Wednesday, September 20, 2000

La Nina weather pattern finally over - NOAA WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Blamed for increased hurricane activity and drought in the United States, the global weather pattern ``La Nina'' is finally over after two years, government weather experts said Wednesday.

James Baker, administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said La Nina, Spanish for ''the girl child,'' and its climatic opposite El Nino would not influence global weather for at least the next nine months.

``This means a return to more normal weather, but it also means that long-term seasonal outlooks will be more uncertain without the firm influence of these cycles,'' Baker said.

La Nina refers to extensive cooling of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, having the opposite effect of El Nino, or ``the boy child.''

La Nina is largely blamed for the continuing drought in the Southeast and Texas as well as above average hurricane activity in the Atlantic and Gulf states

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 20, 2000