5 JUNE 1998. PACIFIC: ENSO TRIGGER
The Environmental News Network reports that NASA observed a weakening of tradewinds in the eastern Pacific before the onset of the latest ENSO event according to Dr. W. Timothy Liu at NASA's Jet Propulsion (Scientists have long believed this occur, but have not observed it. The main question remains "what causes the tradewinds to weaken?"-ED.). The NSCAT project also observed an unusual low-pressure area with counterclockwise circulation that moved toward the U.S. mainland, dragging with it tropical moisture that hit the California coast as rain, but bypassed Hawaii, producing drought.