Japan weather bureau says El Nino appears to have ended

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's weather bureau said on Wednesday that it appears that the latest El Nino phenomenon has ended.

There is a 60% chance that neither the El Nino nor La Nina weather patterns will appear in the northern hemisphere autumn this year, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

El Nino is a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific that typically happens every few years, sometimes causing crop damage, flash flooding or fires.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by Richard Pullin)