As a prominent El Niño trend continues to gain steam in the Pacific Ocean, climatologists at the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center claimed Thursday that every one of their computer models are predicting a El Niño to reach peak intensity during the late fall/early winter months. This comes on the heels of reports that this El Niño might be the one to bring California out of its historic drought.
Not just that but folks all over the Southwest are stoked on what may be the ski season they’ve been waiting for since 1997, which is the last time an El Niño this strong reared its beautiful head. NASA Climatologist Bill Patzert even told the LA Times that the current El Niño trend is “stronger than it was in 1997.”
After the 1997 El Niño event, the Sierra Nevada mountains received approximately twice the snowfall average.
Whatever the case, it’s potentially the event that California desperately needs before the state runs out of water.
- At the moment, this year’s El Niño is stronger than it was at this time of year in 1997-Bill Patzert (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory climatologist )
- “This could be among the strongest El Niños in the historical record dating back to 1950,” – Mike Halpert (deputy director of the NOAA Climate Prediction Center.)
“We have a relatively confident forecast for a strong event, and this provides long-range forecasters with information they can use to develop their seasonal forecasts. So, although there are no guarantees, the odds nonetheless really are tilted in specific directions in various parts of the U.S. as far as winter climate is concerned. A significant El Niño like this one provides an uncommon opportunity for people to anticipate the climate tendency well in advance of the main impact season.”– Emily Becker (Research Scientist for the NOAA Climate Prediction Center)
Read the entire LA Times article here: Latest forecast suggests ‘Godzilla El Niño’ may be coming to California