Southern California and the rest of the southern U.S., all the way to Florida, can expect a very wet winter, while it should be relatively mild in the upper part of the United States, including New England.If the rains come as forecast, we are cautioned not to conclude the drought is over. Drought is the default (i.e., normal) condition of California, wet years are the exception.
As Erick Erickson writes at his Red State blog, if CA's government was smart they'd build new reservoirs to catch all the extra rain when an El Nino comes along. Side benefit - nice new lakes for recreation and fishing.
Of course they're not smart. The Sierra Club doesn't like reservoirs so reservoirs won't be built. We'll all be taking boat showers and driving dirty cars instead.
