Climate experts say West Coast will see wet winter
By Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle
The stormy weather expected to dampen California for the next several days — which holds promise of a wet and even white Christmas some places — is just the beginning of what promises to be a soggy winter ahead, federal climate experts said Thursday.
This week’s monthly report by the U.S. Climate Prediction Center remained bullish in its long-term outlook for precipitation along much of the West Coast, mostly due to the moist atmospheric conditions associated with El Niño.
Lake Tahoe and the northern Sierra, where the bulk of California’s water comes from, stands a 40 percent chance of getting significantly wetter weather. The Bay Area is pegged for a 50 percent chance of significantly wetter-than-average weather in January, February and March — defined as within the top one-third of the rainiest seasons on record.