el nino

[Andrea Knebel]

Hi all,

everybody is talking about the el nino effect of this year but I just  
saw a documentary on TV that said they did not have any signs of an  
el nino at the coast of South America. At the beginning of February,  
they travelled along the west coast and the pictures they showed were  
pretty normal weather: no inland rain, still a lot of pelicans and  
other birds which means there is enough fish which is a sign of   
enough nutrients, and .... . 


They also talked to local fisherman and they also could not see a  
decline in the amount of fish they catch.

The also said that it is weird why there are no signs because the  
metreologists measured this up heating of the pacific in December but  
nothing else happened.

How much the el nino effects our world climate is also not really  
known, I guess. Is it really unusually warm in the US this year? Or  
do we just feel like it is?

About Germany, I can say that this year the winter is mild and the  
last winters were much colder but that happens often  and so must not  
be in connection with el nino.

Any ideas or comments? Any metereologists out there?


Andrea Knebel
Biologist at 

University of Bielefeld
Germany