Well since I am a complete weather geek as well, you can probably tell that I've been following the possibilty of an El Nino forming later this year into next.
I am excited, but at the same time weary because in 2010, NOAA and various weather services claimed an El Nino was due into late fall. Well, that didn't go as planned, we ended up having a somewhat neutral year.
Either way, ENSO and SST anomalies are showing positive direction towards an El Nino. Yes, we still have the "spring predicability barrier" so we'll have to wait a little more until we can confirm that an El Nino will more than likely happen.
El Nino means a wetter winter and spring for California and the southern states. If El Nino does occur, then California along with other southern states may get lots of help with their drought problems. Currently, there is weak evidence that shows a correlation between El Nino and an above normal monsoon season. Bummer!
I've got some links that provide some credibility to what is mentioned here:
One website is run by Daniel Swain. It is a blog that I follow and get weather information from. His blogs are moslty centered at California.
And of course there is NOAA.
http://www.climate.g...el-niño-brewing
And the 80% probable aritcle.
http://www.washingto...ecasts-of-doom/
In the end, I'm still going to look forward to this year's monsoon season and winter!