This year's El Nino expected to be mild

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- This year's El Nino would be mild, resembling the pattern of 2006 and 2007, weather experts said in remarks published on Sunday.

The oscillation of hot water in the eastern Pacific Ocean is going to be a let-down, in terms of precipitation over a parched California, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) researcher Bill Patzert told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"This El Nino is definitely puny," Patzert said , adding that this year's pattern resembles the mild El Nino of 2006-2007, which left California's snowpack and reservoirs short of what water experts had coveted: an end to five years of drought.

Although the jet stream pattern still shows that California might get a wet winter, the likelihood of floods and massive rains is diminishing, the paper quoted climatologists as saying.

"We're planning for a dry 2010," said Elissa Lynn, senior meteorologist for the state Department of Water resources, in an interview with the paper.

El Nino is the name given to a change in Pacific currents that moves the jet stream and storm track from their normal vectors. Strong El Ninos can see Southern California's coastal plains get triple the normal 10-12 inches of annual rainfall.

This year's El Nino appeared to be off to a strong start, but has fizzled.

Patzert said it's time to find a new name for mild El Ninos, so that the public is not confused.

"You have to reserve the name 'El Nino' for the real big events that only happen every 12 to 14 years," he said.

"It's actually eroding the credibility of long-range forecasters and climatologists."