NOAA says El Niño will bring a wetter winter

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is forecasting a wetter than usual winter for California, thanks to to El Niño.

"We expect El Niño to strengthen and persist through the winter months, providing clues as to what the weather will be like during the period," says Mike Halpert, deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center – a division of the National Weather Service. "Warmer ocean water in the equatorial Pacific shifts the patterns of tropical rainfall that in turn change the strength and position of the jetstream and storms over the Pacific Ocean and the U.S."