EL NINO is officially dead and buried.
The Bureau of Meteorology delivered the last official rites to the dry weather event today in its latest El Nino wrap up.
"The El Nino event of 2009/10 has concluded, with all the major indicators now below El Nino thresholds," the bureau said.
"Latest observations show that sea surface temperatures, trade winds, the Southern Oscillation Index and cloudiness over the Pacific have all returned to levels considered typical of neutral."
Neutral conditions mean that there is neither an El Nino, usually associated with dry weather, nor a la Nina, which usually heralds above-average rainfall.
The bureau said the timing of the decline in the 2009/10 El Nino event had been fairly typical, with the event peaking over summer then decaying during autumn.
"Historically, about 40% of El Nino events are immediately followed by a La Niña," the bureau said.
Current conditions below the surface of the Pacific Ocean showed large volumes of cooler than normal water, indicating that further cooling of the surface was likely, it said.
"The majority of climate model predictions suggest the tropical Pacific will cool further during the coming months, with the possible development of La Niña conditions by late winter or spring."
