( CNN ) -- Australia is emerging from the grip of its strongest La Nina weather pattern on record -- a meteorological event that brings either devastating floods or , in the case of its counterpart El Nino , scorching droughts . According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology , the weather pattern that brought dramatic floods to southern Queensland a year ago -- one of the most intense on record -- is waning , but oceans around the eastern seaboard are still warm enough to cause high pressure systems that dump months of rainfall in a matter of a few days . `` There was a very slow moving trough over inland Australia that stretched from the far northwest , through the Northern Territory and on to the southeast including New South Wales and Victoria , '' said Jenny Sturrock , acting senior meteorologist at the National Metereological Centre . `` When it meets all that nice warm moisture from the Coral and Tasman Seas , we got several days of heavy rainfall that led to flooding , '' she said . `` This type of broad scale pattern is more conducive to rainfall but it 's also exacerbated by short-term meteorological patterns too . '' Scientists are blaming La Nina for the recent flooding in Australia and the Philippines . The weather pattern is part of a natural cycle called the El Nino Southern Oscillation ( ENSO ) and occurs when cold water builds up on the west coast of the South American continent . Pulled by strong easterly winds , the cold water surges west across the Pacific , creating a `` cold tongue '' that pushes warm water and a consequent high pressure system ahead of it . The resulting weather system -- filled with warm , water-laden air -- dumps unusually heavy rain when it makes landfall . Its opposite effect , El Nino , is usually marked by wetter weather over South America . Currently , Argentina is in the grip of drought . La Nina occurs at intervals between a few years and a decade and generally lasts for a year or two . To what extent global warming has contributed to the intensity of the weather pattern is still not known , with records of the event only stretching back 60 years . Nevertheless , the bureau has said the pattern is similar in intensity to La Nina flooding in 1939 and 1950 . Long-term weather patterns across the Australia are notoriously difficult to forecast and meteorologists are collecting oral evidence from Aboriginal people to get a handle on the continent 's weather cycles . The Bureau of Meteorology 's Indigenous Weather Knowledge project aims to build a weather map of Australia based on knowledge of weather patterns from indigenous communities . Under this system , a startlingly complex mosaic of weather patterns is being mapped . For example , studies have established that the Aboriginal people of the Sydney region recognized six distinct seasons , rather than the four given to the area by its white settlers .
Australia emerging from strongest La Nina on record . The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said the country had experienced its warmest year since records began in 1910, with temperatures reaching a peak of 45.5C The weather patterns create warm seas that lead to heavy rains . Scientists have been compiling data from Aborigines to get a grip on long-term patterns .