Japan's weather bureau said on Monday that there was a 90% chance the El Nino phenomenon will continue during the northern hemisphere winter.

The bureau also said there was a 50% chance each for El Nino to continue in the spring and for normal weather patterns to return after the winter.

El Nino is a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Kim Coghill)