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Get ready Californians! Water-stricken California is preparing for the worst El Nino on record; it’s expected to surpass the intense 1997 El Nino, the wettest El Nino event recorded.
“There is a greater than 90% chance that El Nino will continue through Northern Hemisphere winter 2015-16, and around an 85% change it was last into early spring 2016,” the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a statement.
When a strong El Nino takes place, winds can be shifted from Mexico and Central America towards California and the west coast. In 1997, El Nino provided Southern California with double its annual rainfall and dumped double the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The snowpack amount alone helped replenish the state’s largest supply of drinking water.
Although the torrential rain storms from El Nino will help with the California drought, it also comes at a price: flooding and landslides. Because California doesn’t see significant rainfalls like other parts of the country, flooding becomes a major concern.
The 2015 El Nino is expected to begin in late fall or early winter. While it’s hard for forecasters to predict precisely when an El Nino is going to occur, once they begin seeing a pattern similar to past events, they can usually predict the event a couple months in advance.
