December

An overview of the present climate in the tropical South Pacific Islands, with an outlook for the coming months, to assist in dissemination of climate information in the Pacific region.

Number 63 – December 2005

November’s climate

• The South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) extended from Papua New Guinea towards the Austral Islands; high rainfall in parts of the Southern Cook Islands, Tonga, and northern and southern French Polynesia
• Suppressed convection occurred in the central equatorial Pacific; below average rainfall in much of Vanuatu, New Caledonia, the Northern Cook Islands, and central French Polynesia
• Above average air temperatures in Western Kiribati, Wallis and Futuna, Samoa, Tonga, central French Polynesia, and Tuvalu; below average in parts of Vanuatu
• No tropical cyclones so far, but a normal seasonal occurrence is expected

El Niño/Southern Oscillation and seasonal rainfall forecasts

• Tropical Pacific expected to remain in neutral El Niño/Southern Oscillation phase into autumn 2006
• Below average rainfall likely over Western and Eastern Kiribati, the Northern Cook Islands, and the Marquesas Islands

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