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Reporter: Well El Nino's finger prints are already on this winters
weather forecast,

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influencing extreme weather events ranging from tornadoes to blizzards

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across the United States and globally.

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NASA has been following this El Nino since its development,

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showing its striking impacts from space.

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Here to talk a little bit more about this and show us what NASA has
seen is

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Dr. George Huffman at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Thanks for
joining us.

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Huffman: I'm glad to be with you.

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Reporter: So what can you tell us about this years El Nino?

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Huffman: This year's El Nino is like many El Ninos.

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You have warm water which is formed in the equatorial pacific and

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of course its not just the surface but the whole upper layer of the
ocean

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and it gets really warm and all this heat causes the jet streams to
move to the north.

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It drives precipitation locally in the Pacific Ocean but also on the
west

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coast of the US.

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Reporter: What kind of environmental changes are we seeing with this
El Nino?

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Huffman: This El Nino is driving a great deal of precipitation

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across the Pacific Ocean and so you have

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heavy rain fall in the central pacific

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and then dryness to the west.

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This extends not only across the pacific but in fact

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around the globe and it also extends to the west coast of the US.

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Reporter: Will this year's El Nino bring relief in California?

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Huffman: The California droughts have built up over several years so
its really hard to get relief in a single year.

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It is the case that the west coast has been getting excessive
precipitation but mostly in

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northern California and up in the pacific northwest.

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The good news is the snow pack in the Sierras is like a hundred
percent of normal for this time of year.

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So they should have better water supplies during the summer, but the
long term drought remains.

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Reporter: Could this year's El Nino turn into a La Nina and if so
what would that mean for us?

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Huffman: It is the case that strong El Ninos are frequently followed
by La Ninas

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and if that happens the warm water will be replaced by cold water
some time during the summer

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and into the fall.

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When that happens the typical pattern is that you have

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lower rainfall in the central pacific,

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lower chance of rainfall on the west coast of the US in the following
winter

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and an increased chance of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean.

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Reporter: How does this years El Nino compare to the big one that we
had in 1997 and 1998?

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Huffman: That's an excellent question.

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The 1997/1998 was the last El Nino which was

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as strong as the one we are now experiencing,

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and the big difference is that the 1997/1998 was more of east pacific,

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you see in this graphic it maximizes up against South America,

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where as this year it's more of a central pacific

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that has some really fundamental changes in the way it drives the

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global circulation anomalies that we are seeing this year.

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Reporter: Where can we learn more?

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Huffman: To learn more you can go to nasa.gov/earth or on Twitter

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you can go to @nasaearth