The Bureau of Meteorology raised the ENSO (El Niño -
Southern Oscillation) Tracker to El Niño status on Tuesday,
and international climate models suggest that threshold
levels are likely to be exceeded until at least spring. El Niño is
expected to dominate the Australian climate during the second
half of 2015: a typical weather pattern would see southern
Australia experience above-average daytime temperatures, with
below average winter and spring rainfall over the east of the
country. At present, the climate is dominated by a warmer than
usual Indian Ocean, and consequently the May to July outlook is
wetter than average for much of Australia