SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) NCEP/NWS and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society have reported an El Niño advisory, stating that it is strengthening and looks to last throughout the winter.

What does this mean for California? Higher chances for rain, and lots of it.

“I think this is the most promising sign of a wet winter in California in nearly 20 years,” Paul Deanno, KPIX 5 Meteorologist, said, according to a CBS San Francisco report.

According to the advisory, experts are now more than 90 percent sure of El Niño lasting through the autumn season, and 85-90 percent chance of going through the 2015 winter.

While the strength of El Niño doesn’t impact the West Coast summer as strongly as it does in hurricane locations like Mexico, Florida, and Louisiana, it does bring a stronger winter influence that has, in some historic situations, brought too much of a good thing to the California region.

According to CBS, El Niño has been known to bring wind damage, levee breeches, and heavy floods, having doubled normal rainfall amounts twice in recorded history (1982-1983 and 1997-1998 winters).

“Across the contiguous United States, temperature and precipitation impacts associated with El Niño are expected to remain minimal during the Northern Hemisphere summer and increase into the late fall and winter,” the advisory states. “El Niño will likely be a contributor to a below normal Atlantic hurricane season, and above-normal hurricane seasons in both the central and eastern Pacific hurricane basins.”

This report was compiled as a result of numerous models, nearly all showing the same results. The CPC will continue to monitor the situation periodically, so stay tuned to AndNowUKnow.