U.S. weather forecaster sees neutral conditions through summer 2018

(Reuters) - Neutral conditions are likely through the Northern Hemisphere summer this year, a U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday.

However, chances of an El Niño weather-pattern is increasing to 50 percent during the fall and 65 percent during the winter of 2018-19, the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said in its monthly forecast.

Neutral refers to those periods in which neither El Niño nor La Niña is present, according to CPC.

(Reporting by Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)