June 27, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1423

GENEVA, June 26: The El Nino weather phenomenon that was discovered to be behind widespread climatic disturbances in the late 1990s, especially in the southern hemisphere, is back, the World Meteorological Organization confirmed on Wednesday in Geneva.

The results of the newest El Nino, the WMO predicts, should be milder than its previous incarnation in 1997-1998.

That El Nino triggered weather phenomena that killed 21,000 people and caused destruction across 25 countries totalling 33.9 billion dollars.

El Nino is the name of a cyclical weather pattern produced by the abnormal warming of surface water in the Pacific.

It results in heat waves and drought around South America and Africa.

According to the WMO, the surface temperature of water along the Equator in the middle and eastern Pacific are already a degree above normal.

There are however no clear indications of how severe developments may be, the WMO said.—dpa