It's official, an El Niño advisory is now in effect for the globe. After several months under a "watch," teetering on the edge of El Niño, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has finally pulled the trigger.

The climate phenomenon may enhance an already very stormy pattern across California, making it even stormier.
The El Niño Southern Oscillation is a natural cycle of warmer and cooler than normal Equatorial Pacific Ocean temperatures. The El Niño phase is a warming of the Central and sometimes Eastern Equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures, occurring every few years on average.