California may already be known for being the Sunny State, but it's looking like it will be much sunnier in the West Coast state.
According to The New York Times, predictions regarding the incoming El Niño from researchers of the Climate Prediction Center for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), have been released in a teleconference with reporters from various news outlets all over the world. The weather phenomenon, which is expected to affect the climate worldwide, will hit the western seaboard of the United States, including Washington and Oregon.
However, it is California that is going to be hit the strongest, especially with the current four-year drought that the Golden State is already experiencing. With the year shaping to be the "warmest year on record" as stated by Daniel Swain of California's Stanford University, forecasters are offering different opinions as to how it will affect the state, since each El Niño in the past have had different marks.
The deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center for the NOAA, Mike Halpert, said in a teleconference with the Society of Environmental Journalists, "We're predicting this El Niño could be among the strongest El Niños in the historical record ... this year's El Niño is already the second strongest for this time of year in more than 60 years of record-keeping."
However, the rains that will be brought to California will not make a dent on the extreme drought that the Golden State is experiencing. Kevin Werner, the director of western regional climate services for the NOAA, has said that the deficit in the state's water supply is so high that it would take rains of "something in excess of the wettest year on record" to replenish it.
Previous El Niños have caused droughts in Asia-Pacific countries like Australia, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. More typhoons in the Pacific and the continued warming of the worldwide temperature have also been linked to these El Niños.
