"Stronger than usual trade winds accompany La Nina. These winds, from the east, push the ocean water away from the equator in each hemisphere. (This is caused by the rotation of the earth.) Cold water from below rises to replace the warm surface water which has moved away from the equator". Credit: teachertech.rice.edu .

THE ocean-atmosphere phenomenon that helped end years of drought in eastern Australia has come to an end.

Neutral conditions have replaced La Nina, the Bureau of Meteorology said in its latest El Nino-Southern Oscillation report released on Wednesday.

The relatively good news for farmers, rural communities and those responsible for urban water storages is that neutral climatic conditions are likely to persist through winter.

“That is neither La Nina nor El Nino” the bureau said.

The report proclaims the end of the latest La Nina, an event which generally brings more rain than average to eastern Australia.

It also predicts the influence of the Indian Ocean Dipole on rainfall is currently neutral.

A positive dipole has been associated with drier conditions over parts of Australia, particularly in the southeast, during the winter and spring seasons.