El Nino

I'm sure most people in North America have heard that we are experiencing an El Nino event this year. El Nino is a prolonged warming in the Pacific Ocean and it affects weather patterns worldwide. You've probably read an article in the paper or watched a report on the news about how North America can expect a milder and wetter winter. It will probably have an economic impact on some people - ski hills, snowmobile shops, etc... but it's having a dramatic effect in Papua New Guinea.

Everyday in the paper there are stories about the worsening conditions in the highlands. Crops have been destroyed by frost and the drought is drying up rivers and streams. It may seem odd that warming of the ocean is causing frost, but that's what's happening at higher elevations. In the more than 6 weeks that Lori and I have been here, we have had one rainfall and that was only a couple of millimeters. The last strong El Nino was in 1997 and hundreds of people died of starvation and thirst, so they are taking it very seriously. They are setting up temporary housing for highlanders, who are leaving their homes and they are also closing schools in several regions.

We are still in the dry season, and will be for another couple of months, but there might be relief on the horizon. The weather has definitely changed. We woke up on Saturday and the winds had diminished and changed direction. It's no longer bringing dust with it, now it's bringing warm, moist air. It has been super hot and super humid ever since. It finally feels like we live in the tropics and not the desert. Our driver Khone, told us that rain always comes after a couple of days of weather like this. I hope so. In the meantime, we will be spending a lot of time in the pool.

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