The US West Coast should brace for super floods and mudslides later this year that could be caused by what is shaping to be the most powerful El Niño on record, weather forecasters warned recently.
Meteorologists from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Climate Prediction Center said computer models show warming ocean waters near North and South America, which could bring frequent and intense storms in the late fall or early winter.
"This definitely has the potential of being the Godzilla El Niño," said climatologist Bill Patzert of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.
"Everything now is going to the right way for El Niño. If this lives up to its potential, this thing can bring a lot of floods, mudslides and mayhem," he added.
El Niño, which means "the little boy" in Spanish, is a weather phenomenon which happens when waters of the Pacific Ocean near the equator warm significantly.
Mike Halpert, deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center, said the warming of the ocean this year could lead to one of "the strongest El Niños in the historical record dating back to 1950."
It can be recalled that in 1997, an intense El Niño nicknamed "Bruce Lee" by bloggers, also hit the United States, bringing heavy amount of rainfall to Southern California and dumping twice as much snow during the winter in Sierra Nevada.
El Niño also brought heavy rainstorms to Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma, which have been experiencing droughts at that time.
Patzert said this 1997 El Niño can happen again later this year if "a major collapse in trade winds" happens from August to November.
"We're waiting for the big trade wind collapse. If it does, it could be stronger than 1997," he explained.
Nevertheless, there is also a small chance that this trade wind collapse and the Godzilla El Niño will not happen
