El Nino will be strong, but won't break records, NOAA says

U.S. government forecasters upgraded this year's El Nino to an unusual strong status, but said it's probably not a record breaker or drought buster.

Mike Halpert, deputy director of the federal Climate Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationsaid the current worldwide weather shifting event doesn't match the monster El Nino of 1997-1998, nor is it likely to.

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Witheven warmer waters in the central Pacific in August, the hottest in more than 17 years, the prediction center moved the ElNinoup from moderate status. So far the ElNinois the third strongest on record, behind 1997-98 and a weird one in 1987-88that peaked early.

Meteorologists said strong ElNinosusually dump heavy rains on southern California, but its four-year water deficit is too big to be erased in one wet winter.