In Texas, Oklahoma and Mexico, destructive storms flooded communities and unleashed a tornado, leaving more than two dozen dead. Across Southern California, this month has been decidedly cooler and wetter. San Diego had its wettest May in 94 years, and Los Angeles saw nearly four times its average rainfall. This month, the San Diego Padres were forced to call a rain delay — only the fifth time that has happened in Petco Park's 11-year history. Even the Mojave Desert is running as much as 5 degrees cooler than normal. To some scientists, these are signs that the elusive, unpredictable El Niño weather phenomenon is gaining strength — and offering a glimmer of hope after more than three years of extreme drought...El Niño is the warming of Pacific Ocean waters along the equator, from Peru to the International Date Line, that causes changes to the atmosphere and can influence weather globally. Last year, scientists thought El Niño was forming in the Pacific, only to watch it fade out. There's reason to believe this coming winter could be different, as El Niño appears to enforce its will elsewhere in the country...
And this from the University of Arizona:
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