El Nino Not Over Yet

Warm, dry conditions in San Diego have locals wondering if El Nino is over.

“I do think EL Niño is over,” Santee local Heather Lofrado told NBC 7. “Every time I see that it’s supposed to rain in the forecast it goes away by the next couple of days and they says it’s down to ten percent and it’s not going to happen.”

However, dry spells with temperatures well above normal are all common during an El Nino season according to the National Weather Service.

The two biggest El Niño’s on record, 1982-83 and 1997-98, had 23 and 18 consecutive days without rain respectively. Fifteen days into this February there’s been no measurable rain yet. Since the start of El Nino in October San Diego has received upwards of six inches of rain - .09 inches less than normal the National Weather Service said.

“I hope it happens again because we are in desperate need of more water,” Santee resident Mary Lamm said. “I don’t want it to be washed away but get the reservoirs filled up and more snow pack in the mountains and just have this drought end.

El Niño is forecast to stick around until April San Diego could still see record rain.

A high pressure system has kept rains from San Diego, but the northern part of the state has been hit hard adding to the Sierra snowpack.
 

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