The United Nation’s weather agency has declared a global El Nino, but in Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology hasn’t confirmed the climate event. As the country remains on El Nino alert, preparation is paramount. 

The BOM has bucked a worldwide trend by not confirming El Nino, with the event being confirmed in weather agencies across the world after the hottest day ever was recorded, just two weeks ago. 

According to BOM, El Niño refers to the extensive warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific that leads to a major shift in weather patterns across the Pacific.

During this event, Eastern Australia in particular is prone to much drier conditions.

University of NSW climate scientist Associate Professor Andrea Taschetto, the current conditions in Australia don’t match the requirements to be considered El Nino. 

“Confirming an El Nino event requires persistent measurements of a number of metrics that the Australian Bureau of Meteorology is still waiting to see,” A/Professor Taschetto said. 

“The Bureau of Meteorology hasn't declared an El Niño yet because one of the metrics, which is the difference in atmospheric pressure between Tahiti and Darwin, is still not behaving in the way that we'd expect a classic El Niño to,” she said.

Remaining on El Nino alert, the BOM has predicted a 70 per cent chance that the event will occur. 

Farmers for Climate Action spokesperson Peter Holding is urging farmers to get ahead of the event. 

“(The BOM) is also worried dry conditions could be compounded by a positive Indian Ocean Dipole,” he said. 

“Although some farmers have had good conditions recently, we know things can change in a few months,” Mr Holding said. 

After three years of wet La Nina cycles, the impact of drying conditions is already beginning to show.

“The farming agricultural community is really struggling after going through two years of floods and now to be faced with very little crop…it’s pretty damning,” said Walgett mayor Jane Keir. 

In the most recent climate outlooks from BOM, the Western Plains can expect less rainfall and above median temperatures from the August to October period.