NOAA: El Nino comes to an end
Fifteen months after forming in the Pacific Ocean, this year’s super-sized El Nino is dead, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The front yard of Francisco Rodriquez’s home on San Juan Grade road in Salinas is dry, quite the difference from last March when the entire thing was flooded.
The rain was from an El Nino generated storm, but now El Nino is over.
“El Nino has come to end,” said Warren Blier with the National Weather Service.
Even though at times it seemed like wet winter, according to Blier, the central coast finished the season at about average rain-fall.
“The El Nino event was strong, but not from a precipitation standpoint,” said Blier.
Regardless, there were damages. Santa Cruz County is set to receive state and federal funding to help with more than $9 million in road repairs.
The city of Salinas saw floods,but the rescue boats that the fire department purchased before winter didn’t see much use.
Still, Chief Brett Loomis with the Salinas Fire Departments told KION that it is always better to err on the side of caution.
“It’s all about preparedness,” said Loomis. “We’ve know the issue has been here. We’ve seen the flooding in Salinas, so we feel very prepared,” added Loomis.
Going into this winter, there were predictions that these El Nino generated storms could be like the ones that hit in 1997 and 1998. It turned out to be far less substantial, but predicting the severity of an El Nino winter can tough.
El Nino did help bring some much needed rain to drought stricken California, but there is still a ways to go.
“It’s helped us catch up a little bit from a water supply standpoint but there is still a water deficit to be made up.”
The National Weather Service also said that following the El Nino winter there can be dry period known as a La Nina. Blier did stress that there are a number of different factors that go into a La Nina.
“If that all plays out the tendency would be in a bit of drier direction,” said Blier.
According to Federal meteorologists, El Nino triggered droughts in Africa and India and helped spawn a record hurricane season in the Pacific, but didn’t end California’s four-year drought.
