La Nina conditions seen continuing: NOAA

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Climate Prediction Center said Thursday that it sees the cool water conditions for the La Nina weather anomaly in the Pacific Ocean likely continuing into spring and possibly through the first half of 2009.

"During December 2008, negative equatorial sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies strengthened across the central and east-central Pacific Ocean," CPS said it its latest report.

The climate center is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the U.S.

La Nina literally means "little girl" in Spanish. Its effect often results in cooler-than-normal waters in the Pacific Ocean that encourage hurricanes to form in the Atlantic by suppressing winds that break up storms as they form.

CPC's monthly report said temperatures in the Pacific Ocean became increasingly negative in the latest week.

"Low-level easterly winds and upper-level westerly winds also strengthened across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Collectively, these oceanic and atmospheric anomalies reflect the development of La Nina," the report said.

It added that nearly all recent predictions for the Nino region expect below-average sea surface temperatures through the first half of 2009. And, at least half of forecasters think waters will cool enough to foster La Nina conditions throughout the half.

Despite the late start to this year's La Nina pattern, CPC said it expects it will lead to above-average precipitation over Indonesia with below-average rains over central and eastern equatorial Pacific through March.

In the United States, the CPC said above-average rains were possible in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and below-average precipitation across the South during the same period.

CPC will update its outlook for La Nina on February 5.

The more widely known El Nino anomaly turns waters in the Pacific abnormally warm, building wind shears in the Atlantic that tend to break up storms disruptive to oil and gas production, as well as crop production in the Gulf of Mexico.

El Nino, or "little boy," was named after the Christ child by Latin American anchovy fishermen in the 19th century when the pattern was first noticed.

El Nino's most recent devastation hit in 1997/98 when its high temperatures caused drought in countries like Australia and Indonesia, while spawning floods in Peru and Ecuador.

(Reporting by Carole Vaporean; Editing by Marguerita Choy)