Evidence mounts for El Nino that could ease Calif. drought

Evidence is mounting that the El Nino ocean-warming phenomenon in the Pacific will spawn a rainy winter in California.

The extra rain could help ease the state’s punishing drought, but it also brings a risk of chaotic storms like those that battered the region in the late 1990s.

In a report issued last week, meteorologists say that the already strong El Nino has a 95 percent chance of lasting through the winter before weakening in the spring.

The National Weather Service says this El Nino appears to be the second-strongest since 1950. That means people should also prepare for damaging rains.

El Ninos in the early 1980s and late 1990s killed more than 50 Californians and caused nearly $2 billion in damage.