Strong El Nino weather pattern spurs hope of drenching California winter

“If you are a gambler, this is giving you some information in terms of what the seasonal rainfall might be”, said Tom Di Liberto, meteorologist for the federal Climate Prediction Center.

Scientists are releasing encouraging news on the drought plaguing California. “El Nino is only one of many things that could impact California’s rainy season”.

Phillips said the last really strong one was in the winter of 1997-98, when Winnipeggers experienced a brown Christmas. On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced El Nino is strengthening.

El Nino, the warming of Pacific sea-surface temperatures, can have devastating consequences for agriculture, triggering heavy rains and floods in South America and scorching weather in Asia and as far away as east Africa. Averaging them out, this is what we came out with for temperature and precipitation rate anomalies for the fall and winter.

According to Environment Canada, El Nino events generally appear every two to seven years and last 12 to 18 months, although one El Nino in the early 1990s lasted four years.

Scientists said sea surface temperatures anomalies in June exceeded 1º Celsius across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.

The report increases probabilities for a stronger El Nino with greater longevity to last through this coming winter.

After a cooler and wetter than average spring and summer, El Nino may bring a major change to warmer and drier by the fall.

However, Marriott says we’ve seen past El Ninos which included a blast of snow at the start and the end of the winter with a lull in the middle.