>> el niÑo. >> el niÑo. >> everyone knows el niÑo brings unusually warm waters pumping up the winteretching all the way up to alaska could be fueling marine activity and it is something completely separate . >> there is another phenomenon out there called the bob -- warm blob. basically, a pool of warm water, unusually warm water off the gulf of alaska that happened over the last year or two and the reason for that [ indiscernible ] but we think it is actually related to the california drought. >> they have been watching these two phenomena. they are coincidently converging at the same time. >> there are two separate entities and only during el niÑo's do we see warmer than normal water on the california coast. so that tells me there is a cause and effect. >> even though el niÑo is on everyone's mind this winter, it may actually be a pop. it could be creating warm seas and whether -- weather. >> it has an impact. with the upcoming el niÑo, the thought will be that these will be amplified even more. >> are the engines driving our weather, forecasters are keeping a close eye. it could m

el niÑo, one bad little boy.ory." >> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target. >> you're watching inside story. i'm ray suarez. one bad little boy this time on the program, floods, warm air, drought. people who watch natural events for a living have talked about a godzilla el niÑo this season. what makes this natural phenomenon more powerful in some cycles milder in others. brett, james, and william are still with me. the warm ocean water was warmer, if i understand this correctly, and warmer earlier. what does that tell us about what is on its way? >> well, partnership this look at california here i, the last two really large el niÑos, the winter of 1983, and the winter of 1998, we essentially doubled our normal rainfall up and down the state of california, and what was really sweet, we doubled our snowpack. but along with tha

godzilla el nino. >> this el nino, like all el nino's, is a weather system that begins in the pacific ocean at the equator. >> the pacific covers 30% of the planet. so i always say, when the pacific speaks everybody around the planet better listen. >> understanding el nino begins with the acronym "enso" - or el nino southern oscillation. according to the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, every 3 to 7 years surface waters of the tropical pacific ocean warm or cool by 1 degree celsius to 3 degrees celsius compared to normal. >> when this happens all the pieces on the weatherboard around the planet are changed. what was wet becomes drought and vice versa. >> you have the maps up here, we're looking at '97 and we're looking at now. what do you see? >> on the left 1997 very very big event. and we see the same event almost exactly replicated here in 2015. >> in the years since the last el nino, nasa went all out lauching a series of satellites for monitoring the worlds oceans... and predicting weather. >> so you guys are monitoring it as it happens. using what tools? >> the s

that could effect the el niÑo.precipitation. caller temperatures in the southeast regions of the u.s. we get dryer conditions, warmer conditions in the northeast. in the northeast we're looking at a double-dipped winter, we like to call it, where you get the storminess in the beginning, a dry winter in the middle and then it gets stormy in the end. when we look globally we look at the commodities being prepared over wintertime. the further northern we get we look at russia and china, more dry conditions, less pre pre- pre-precipitation el niÑo makes things more extreme. the storms are stronger. the droughts are stronger and it makes it that much more difficult to determine what is happening, and it usually will happen in a shorter, fiercer amount of time. >> we live in a world awash in data. air currents, relative humidity, regional temperatures. can we know when an el niÑo year is coming and based on the planet's past performance, figure out whether what is come something particularly harsh? el niÑo, one bad littl

el niÑo's here.mple what it is. it's just a body of warm water in the eastern equatorial pacific area that influences global weather patterns. and that's what makes it so important to us, is that it could steer more storms and more storms with more moisture in them our way -- hopefully not that much, like we saw there. but that's why it makes it important. >> all right, so, we want to just give folks seven things that they should know about "el niÑo." or should it be the el niÑo effect? >> i like that -- the el niÑo effect, or the el niÑo influence on our weather more so 'cause -- yeah, let's take a look at number one, and we'll run through all those. and number one of the seven things you need to know about el niÑo is that it's not a storm and it's already happening. i mean, it's out there. it's been out there for the last six months. all right, so, number two is the fact that it's an abnormally warm body of ocean water near the equator. it's not anything else other than that. let's take a look at n

<<el nino is not a sign of climate change. it is something that has been occurring repeatedly back as far as we can find records. what we don't know is how climate change is going to impact el nino. it will become stronger, weaker? >> reporter: the ocean he remind me plays host to an enormous range of creatures great and small. those tiny crabs to the predators who follow them north to eat them. trevor says we should try and understand these waters. el nino he says is like moving all the lines from one side of the continent to the other, except that the big predators here are even less predictable. >>> an frenzy. that's a great white. >> reporter: great white sharks have been spotted in the bay before. but the attack on a sea lion in full view of tourists made waves because a video of it went viral on youtube sparking fears that el nino could be to blame for the increase in sightings. >>> it's long be understood the sharks are in the bay. it's the first time it has been documented >> reporter: this man runs the shark research

you've heard its name -- el nino. >> el nino is about a year-long warming that takes place along the equator in the eastern half of the tropical pacific. it's related to changes in the trade winds. they are weaker when that ocean warms up, and this is from the coast of south america all the way out to the middle of the pacific ocean. >> reporter: nate is a climate scientist with the national oceanic and atmospheric administration in santa cruz, california. this rain, when is the last time you saw this rain? >> you know, we've had very little of this in the last four years. >> reporter: four years? he's been studying the effects of el nino for 30 years. weaken. >> and when that happens, there's a massive shift in rainfall patterns in the tropics. dry. and normally dry places end up getting lots of rainfall. >> reporter: and this el nino, how significant or intense is it? >> the current el nino is among the three strongest since 1950, at least. >> reporter: so strong, the effects of this el nino can be seen on every weather forecaster's radar the world over. >> this warm pattern, which

of el nino for 30 years. every four to seven years, he says those pacific trade winds weaken. >> and when that happens, there's a massive shift in rainfall patterns in the tropics. so wet places tend to be really dry. and normally dry places end up getting lots of rainfall. >> reporter: and this el nino, how significant or intense is it? >> the current el nino is among the three strongest since 1950, at least. >> r rorter: so strong, the effects of this el nino can be seen on every weather forecaster's radar the world over. >> this warm pattern, which is nonoonly at the surface e we're showing here, is over the pacific ocean and provides a tremendous amount of heat capacity to ive the whole circulation pattern, not only across the united states, but around the globe. >> reporter: howi >> reporter: louie is the director of the national weather he says el nino causes the temperature of the pacific ocean to increase up to ten degrees and triggers a ripple effect across the globe. so simplistically, wetter than u

of el nino for 30 years. every four to seven years, he says those pacific trade winds weaken. >> and when that happens, there's a massive shift in rainfall patterns in the tropics. so wet places tend to be really dry. and normally dry places end up getting lots of rainfall. >> reporter: and this el nino, how significant or intense is it? >> the current el nino is among the three strongest since 1950, at least. >> reporter: so strong, the effects of this el nino can be seen on every weather forecaster's radar the world over. >> this warm pattern, which is not only at the surface as we're showing here, is over the pacific ocean and provides a tremendous amount of heat capacity to drive the whole circulation pattern, not only across the united states, but around the globe. >> reporter: howi >> reporter: louie is the director of the national weather he says el nino causes the temperature of the pacific ocean to increase up to ten degrees and triggers a ripple effect across the globe. so simplistically, wetter tha

the storm is only a taste of what the el nino conditions will deliver this winter. kpix 5's joe vazquez live in san anselmo with how officials are preparing. joe. >> reporter: veronica, it's a glorious fall evening here in san anselmo. dry now but hours away from the storm and coming up, el nino which is promising a wet winter. cutting tree branches away from power lines, cleaning out storm drains, filling sandbags, the bay area is getting ready for tomorrow's big storm. >> every year, we don't know what's going to heap but getting sandbags in case. >> reporter: locals are also getting ready for el nino expected this winter. >> if we're lucky we'll be overprepared. i think that's the way we deal with expected dangers. >> from san francisco to sacramento, el nino preparations are under way and, in fact, fema was in the state capital to hold what they call a tabletop exercise, a drill that includes some 50 emergency managers throughout the region. the idea is to react quickly to everything from mud slides to floods. >> it's northern california that can go both ways bu

he has the latest el nino forecast.i, paul. >> hello. >> what is that snoirk. >> well, we're not actually receiving el nino storms yet. the good rain that we got this week which, by the way, is going to continue through sunday and is really the beginning of the winter storm season, that was a storm that came from the gulf of alaska. sort of a typical california winter storm where we have cold air and wet weather coming in. el nino storms which are going to begin probably in january, so about a month, are warmer, and they come from hawaii. they're wetter and more frequent than the kind of storms we would get in a typical year. >> where are the heaviest storms due to hit? is this going to be a long el nino that sticks around? >> yeah. el nino condition have been in the pacific ocean since march. and they don't really make storms come any earlier in the season. but nay sort of beef everything -- they sort of beef everything up. i've heard it described as winter on steroids. >> that does not sound good. >> no, it doesn't. w

the el nino headed to california could be as bad as the most destructive el nino ever. that is the forecast from nasa. take a look at this. the satellite image. experts released today. the one on the left is what the incoming weather system looks like. it appears to be bigger than the one on the right which was taken in 1997. that year, el nino caused record rainfall in california. heat waves across australia, and fires in indonesia. jeff ranieri is watching this weather system very carefully, and jeff, are you seeing the same signs? >> we're seeing that day to day, there are some days where this el nino does rank warmer. when you look at the oceanic nino average on a three month average of september, aublth, and november, a strong climate way to look at el nino, we still rank second behind 1997. 1982 coming in third. what would our second place ranking mean for rainfall potential across the bay area? the way it looks now, january through march, a 55% chance of above average rain. east bay and peninsula, 52% chance, and the north bay, 48%. the more south you go, the hig

all of it the result of an el nino weather system that keeps growing stronger. in fact, the newest satellite image released by nasa bears a striking resemblance to the one in 1997, the worst el nino on record. >> this el nino in size and intensity, will definitely rival the previous two champions. which were '82 and '97. this is a godzilla el nino. >> reporter: that '97 system caused devastating floods in california, a crippling ice storm in the northeast and rare tornados in florida. now this latest el nino promises a new round of weather havoc in 2016 with drought stricken california bracing for massive amounts of rain and mudslides. >> through january and the beginning of february, we'll see the storminess out west and the cooler and wetter pattern across the south and it should stay above average through the north. >> reporter: an el nino that is already leaving further destruction across the globe with the fears more devastating weather is still on the horizon. joe fryer, nbc news, los angeles. >>> as we head into new year's, part os of the country are on h

that is the el niÑo region.n that could have a big impact as we head into the winter months. in fact, this is the strongest el niÑo on record. we are tracking some rainfall today, but real changes could set up over the next few weeks. >> bob fenton is joining us live. thank you for taking the time. >> thank you for having me. >> how did the exercise go? what do we learn? >> today, we had the whole community here, representatives from all different federal agencies. we looked at the threats of el niÑo by looking back at past events. we looked at our ability to respond at the federal, state, and local level and are we ready? we had discussions about that and identify areas where we are ready and areas we need to continue to improve. >> with el niÑo, the stereotype is you get most of the concentrated rainfall down towards southern california. are you balancing more towards southern california in terms of preparation? >> well, we are definitely looking at southern california. we had la county and la city here today.

"el nino" is coming, but in what form? steady rain or a hazardous dee? >>> el nino is coming.n what form? steadiy or a hazardous deluge? >> el nino has not been kind to the sacra membmento delta. >> this is considered river country. it's the intersection where the san joaquin and sacramento rivers meet. along a network of tiny islands, long stretches of levees protect low lying farmlands and homes built with flooding in mind. most years the rivers stay within their banks. >> it shows the water breaking over the top of the levee. >> in the el nino years of 1997, 1998 and 2006, storms pounded the levees here. >> it looked like an ocean. the rollers were four to six feet. wind was blowing 50 plus miles an hour. >> this man of california's department of water resources has overseen sherman island's levees for two decade. he was here when the storm fuelled river crawled over its banks threatening the farmland. >> the water is breaking from the water side over the top of the levee structure. we were bringing rock in by the truck load to try to keep the island afloat. >> following th

a satellite from nasa bears a striking resemblance since 1997, the worst el nino in record. >> this el nino in size and intensity will definitely rival the previous two champions which were '82 and '97. this is a "godzilla" el nino. >> that '97 system caused devastating floods, ice storms in the east and rare tornadoes in florida. this latest el nino promises a new round of havoc in 2016, california bracing for massive amounts of rain and mudslides. >> through january and the beginning of february we'll still see the storminess out west, the weather pattern in the south and above average in the north. >> reporter: an el nino already leaving destructive footprints across the globe with fears more devastating weather is still on the horizon. joe friar, nbc news, los angeles. >> possibility definitely scare y. >> nothing like that in our weather department but changes coming. we'll check in with carrie and a look at the morning commute if there is any out there this morning. why let someone else have all the fun? the sometimes haphazard, never boring fun. the why can't it smell like this

conversations with meteorologists i think that's their property name and scientists warn us of the el nino storms that are coming here that will certainly our city and our area will be a focus of what necessary expect to be flooding i haven't seen any rain yet but i want to be and so our department desirable reduce if we lucky we'll be offeringly prepared we deal with unexpected dangers about you it is good he appreciate the departments and our direction coming together and doing everything we can to prepare not only themselves and their operations but to the public to the medium large and small businesses particularly to the residents for most now we know that with the exceptions we've been working in the private segment and public sector as well as with the faith based partners to make sure we're all ready and reemphasis that everyone should continue at their time when there isn't a big flooding going on to assess sf 72.org that is where there is good information we work on that site very well to prepare everybody and again thank our department of emergency services for putting out robus

hereby here's a view of el nino eastern. the approaching storm coming down from the gulf of alaska does not show any direct connection with el nino. we'll get to elnino later in the season. don't worry about that. rainfall intensity from tomorrow will be at its great ettest around 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. the morning commute will be a slow one. it will be a welt one all across the bay area. across the entire state tomorrow, we'll see showers or rain as far south up and down the si,rra. back more specifically, we'll see high temperatures right around or 60 degrees tomorrow with hef ver rain in the morning, showers during the midday and heavier rain again in the afternoon and evening. here, in san francisco, our rain chances are at 100% tomorrow. and sunday, a second storm hits on a number two ranking moderate storm on our storm impact scale. and a 70 pnt chance of rain on monday. so for much of the bay area, a period of wet weather coming our way. chances of wet weather for about the next four to five days. >> so, a hundred percen

it is not el nino. it has nothing to do with el nino. this is a classic cold front that will be bearing down on the bay area. we see some renegade showers right there in the north bay. that's all according to our live hi-def doppler radar. most of the activity has been dissipating at the lake tahoe. you see light rainfall around quincy through colfax. now, this is what it looks like on our satellite and radar. and you can see the bands of precipitation just disintegrating as it continues to go east. but we still have some drizzle and you can see that visible on our live kpix weather camera look out towards the transamerica pyramid. light drizzle throughout the day today, temperature right now look how mild it is. 67 degrees in san jose. 67 degrees in concord. our daytime highs today will top off high 60s. the winds are now increasing, in fact, we do have a wind advisory in place for later o tonight. i'll have more on that and when you will hear raindrops on the rooftops later in this newscast. >>> new details this afternoon about the san

that's a great question because el nino is out there.s impacting all the weather for the last month or two. the el nino signature is pretty distinct. in the higher snow levels, that's sort of an indication. most of the el nino impacts probably end up early january and february we'll notice more warm storms, things like that. >>> and a reminder, you can get up to the minute forecasth the u weather app. it has live and future radar plus forecast details and warnings for your location including the sierra. it's free for phones and tablets. just search for app store for ktvu. >>> a charity in east palo alto is requesting some last minute help saying it's short thousands of toys for teenagers. the ecmenical hunger program hands out food and toys. one of their biggest toy donors backed out at the last minute. people offer donate toys for younger kids because they're easier to shop for and now they're mostly short on gifts for teenagers. >> we definitely want our teens to be served because there's a lot of single parent families around and the

spark the potential be days the strongest el niÑo, now discussing a pair.talking about whether related, christina is live with what they talked about. >> the planning is happening right now inside the gov.'s office, emergency services outside sacramento and as you said this el niÑo system has the potential to be the strongest and reported history. big operation going on right here inside this office. talking about local, state federal agencies and representatives from the private sector, fema want to make sure everyone is on the same page. in terms of planning ahead and asking the right questions in advance of this el niÑo season. california's office of emergency services says the drought has made the ground hard. the rain will necessarily absorb and the soil but to treat flashfloods. something to be aware about. there is also concern about mudslides and landslides, that is why these agencies are getting together, they've a tentative plan in place, that they will look at this afternoon. >> we look at the plan and use data in the plant to model what the resp

el niÑo sense water -- sends water towards south america. 60s -- experts expect this robust el niÑo sincete --rbated by by global warming. heavy rains and fewer hurricanes in southern usa, but stronger typhoons in asia. el niÑo will be followed by la niÑa, which is created by the reverse weather pattern that is just as powerful. catherine: markus karlsson is back with us for some business news. we are sticking to the extreme weather theme. a string of storms in the u.k. is costing the country. markus: this, as the u.k. once again is being battered by torrential rains and strong winds. the storm is hitting the country. it is likely to cause additional economic damage in the wake of two previous storms, desmond and eva. raised ofte has been how much the weather is likely to cost insurers. it is forecast to be between 900 million pounds and 1.2 billion pounds. reporter: bursting riverbanks, collapsed bridges, and local businesses left with heavy losses. countrysides, and in parts of northern england have been deluged in the worst since 2007. the water came in a rush, taking the owner off gua

it could be as bad as the el niÑo of the winter in 1997-1998.h america could be ravaged by torrential rains, hurricanes, and mudslides could unusually warm water along the coast would create a deadly environment for coral reefs, algae, and plankton, while fish migrate to cooler waters, destroying the livelihoods of local fishermen. on the other side of the pacific, in australia and indonesia, for example, severe drought is likely, and that could trigger forest fires and ruinmomomomomomostst powerful el niÑo ever recorded took the lives of 24,000 people, with financial damages amounting to $34 billion. now scientists fear that el niÑo could be magnified by climate change. reporter: let me take you back to brent and see if he can show you up with better days. brent: let's go to sports now. german champions have been handed a mammoth task, facing the italian giants, the finalists last season. germany's other remaining side faced belgium team. elsewhere, are slow to faced -- barcelona face the english side. in the other games, and ukrainian club fac

these other storms have been not like el niÑo. the other systems philly.y're going to have most of us was persistent rain and snow levels and it's going to be a nice run. the next 3 days are dr. as we head into monday get ready for winter some nasty work commutes. >> start planning now. >>> arrested in mexico after weeks on the run the american teenager will be coming back to the us anytime separate how the young man who used affluenza as a defense convinced a judge to keep him in mexico. >>> a wrong way driver is back in court. what happened in the courtroom and that charges she is facing. some of the latest safety issue for the hoverboards is sent dozens to the emergency room on christmas. >>> if they wanted to pay as much money to drag this out as much as they want to. the mexican immigration court will make it quick, decisive decision to return the effluent couches to america. >> a fatal drunk driving crash that left for people dad was how he was involved in. he was under probation and in violation. when he left for mexico. the father thanked authoriti