Where’s El Niño? Dry January doesn’t fit the forecast

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Have you noticed that the last few weeks have been rather dry in Southern California?

El Niño hasn’t delivered yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s not coming.

Mark Jackson of the National Weather Service says that January has delivered less rain than most meteorologists expected, but he says the months ahead should have plenty of wet weather in store.

Jackson says Jan. 6 and 7 provided a preview of the kind of back-to-back storms to expect in Southern California – several days of rain coming in from the west or northwest, bringing high surf. He expects rainfall to pick up in February and March, and that El Niño conditions may extend into April and May.

January is typically not that wet in an El Niño, Jackson said, but “in Central and Northern California they have received quite a bit of rain, with some snowfall in the Sierra, which is beneficial of course for our drought conditions.”

Jackson cautioned that El Niño is “unlikely to wipe out the drought in one season.”

“Typically these droughts take a couple of seasons to really recover,” so Californians should continue to practice conservation, Jackson said.