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The UN weather agency is predicting that the phenomenon known as La Nina is poised to last through the end of this year, a mysterious triple dip the first this century caused by three straight years of its effect on climate patterns like drought and flooding worldwide. The World Meteorological Organisation on Wednesday said La Nina conditions, which involve a large-scale cooling of ocean surface temperatures, have strengthened in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific with an increase in trade winds in recent weeks. The agency's top official was quick to caution that the triple dip doesn't mean global warming is easing. It is exceptional to have three consecutive years with a La Nina event. Its cooling influence is temporarily slowing the rise in global temperatures, but it will not halt or reverse the long-term warming trend, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said. La Nina is a natural and cyclical cooling of parts of the equatorial Pacific that changes weather patterns .