Possible Spoiler for El Niño: ‘Battle of the Blobs’

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Side-by-side images show unusually warm waters are now much more widespread in the Pacific Ocean than in 1997, the last really big El Niño year. Photo courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

By Craig Miller, KQED News Fix/Science

Hopeful Californians are looking to the Pacific this winter for an end to California’s most punishing drought on record.

The reason: what appears to be a monster El Niño in the making. The abnormally warm waters along the equator could mean a wet winter.

There are no guarantees, but there have been portents. On one Saturday in July, San Diego got more rain than it had gotten the entire month of January.

Read the complete story at  KQED News Fix/Science.
 

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