El Niño's Impact In Southern California Is Far From Over, Meteorologists Say

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Though many believe El Niño was a dud here in the Southland, meteorologists say its impact is far from over.

"This El Niño has really tricked us," said meteorologist Eric Boldt of the National Weather Service.

Boldt said, though forecasters anticipated a lot more rainfall, Southern California wasn't hit as hard as Northern California.

"Down here in the south, we've continued to aggravate our drought," he said.

But Boldt says, while El Niño didn't bring the rain expected, it's impact is far from over.

In fact, meteorologists believe El Niño could now prevent marine layer coverage over the next couple of months.

The impact could mean the Southland won't experience a period known as May Gray, nor June Gloom.

It's welcomed news to some.

"I like hot days at the beach," said one person, while another said: "To have clear days like this, yeah, it's actually kinda nice."

While this is music to many beach-goers' ears, those chilly, gloomy days serve a purpose.

"If we don't have those clouds, we warm up quickly. We don't get that moisture, that's when we start to have wildfires start even in the coastal areas," Boldt said.

It might also mean more people turning on their air conditioners sooner, which would increase the power demand.

What creates the coastal fog is the difference in temperature between the ocean and the warming land but the warm El Niño water could prevent the coastal clouds from forming at all.

"The worst-case scenario could be that we don't see much cloud cover this spring and we get into some heat-waves," Boldt said.

The sunny days could lead to even more concerns next winter as a possible La Niña could mean even more dry weather.