Chris Prentice PlanetArk 10 Jul 15;
A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday again extended its El Nino outlook, projecting an 80 percent chance that the much-watched conditions will continue into the Northern Hemisphere's early spring of 2016.
The Climate Prediction Center, an agency of the National Weather Service, said in its monthly report that it saw the likelihood that El Nino would last through the Northern Hemisphere winter of 2015-16 at more than 90 percent.
There has been a growing consensus among forecasters for a strong El Nino, a weather pattern that can roil crops and commodities prices.
Last month, the CPC said El Nino was likely to last through the winter.
Across the contiguous United States, the effects of El Nino are likely to remain minimal through the summer and increase into the late fall and winter, the CPC said.
To read the full CPC report, click: 1.usa.gov/1ggMcrL
(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Lisa Von Ahn)
