The strongest over the past 20 years of El niño, which caused damage to agricultural production in Asia caused shortages of food, ended, said the Australian Bureau of meteorology (BOM) on Tuesday.

Indicators of climate associated with El niño, which appeared in 2015, now back to neutral levels, said BOM.

El niño is manifested in the heating temperature of the surface waters of the Pacific ocean, which can lead to abnormally hot weather in Asia and East Africa, but heavy rains and floods in South America.

The last El niño has led to increased temperatures of surface waters to its highest levels over the past 19 years, causing drier than normal weather, which led to a drop in production of wheat, palm oil and rice in Asia.

The ending El Nino was not unexpected, indicators of climate showed cooling in recent months, but BOM is Australia's first and largest service of meteorology, which announced the end of El niño.

Farmers will now expect the development of La niña, a meteorological model, which usually brings more wet weather in the Asian region. The probability of La niña is 50%, said the Australian weather Bureau.

Source: Thomson Reuters