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

or we could see another el nino emerge. they have seen back-to-back el ninos before. so there is precedent happy leap day! something fun to celebrate on a google really got into the spirit.... here's their doodle for the day... it's a little bunny with the number 29 on it... leaping between 28 and march first... the little guy wiggles around to make some room. pretty cute. today- only happens once every four years. leap day! we get an extra day in the month... and we want to know what you're doing with the extra time. share your plans for your extra day... using the hashtag be on 9. you can also score deals... baby, some pizza huts will give you a free one-topping personal pan pizza out. give you a free special menu and you can snag a free cooke at mcalister's. not a leap day baby -- don't worry... some krispy kreme shops are offering buy one dozen -- get a dozen original glazed doughnuts for 2-29. that's going to do noel brennan's been working to learn what happened... and how everyone is doing. and this is a live look at i-70 and vail in the mountains. it may not lo

being fueled by el nino, and tonight we'll look at the effects from the u.s. to africa, where millions are threatened with famine. >> people haven't been able to plant the crops they need to survive. >> pelley: and it's show time for america's top dogs. >> it doesn't get any better. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: late today, the president weighed in on the political phenomenon that is donald trump. president obama was answering a question at a news conference today, and he did not mince words. >> i continue to believe mr. trump will not be president. and the reason is because i have a lot of faith in the american people, and i think they recognize that being president is a serious job. it's not hosting a talk show or it's not promotion. it's not marketing. it's hard. >> pelley: well, republicans were also hard on trump today. nicki haley, the governor of south carolina, said she will not endorse trump before the primary there on saturday. in fact, haley said trump is everything a governor does not want

the last big el nino we were 240% of average. below in rainfall but el nino is still here. it is -- it is showing up in the form of giant waves. the storms are going north or south but the waves are a storms created in the pacific. -- strong el nino storms created in the pacific. we are going to see more and that is where el nino is, creating waves but so far no rain for us. >> the waves are just -- >> amazing. >> all right. thank you. >>> the city of fremont is the new guardian of a-week-old colt. the police department posted pictures of him with a new stuffed animal on facebook. he is recuperating now at the veteran center after being -- vet center after being found injured. police made contact with the owner. the owner agreed to surrender the animal to the city. animal services is working to find a new owner once the horse is recovered but it needs six months to recuperate. tonight on american idol. [ singing ] >> he is 28-years-old and he was joined by haily rine heart who came in third during the 10th season of american idol. he made it to the final 24, unfortunately h

the last big el nino we were 240% of average. below in rainfall but el nino is still here.t is -- it is showing up in the form of giant waves. the storms are going north or south but the waves are a product of the strong alarm storms created in the pacific. -- strong el nino storms created in the pacific. we are going to see more and that is where el nino is, creating waves but so far no rain for us. >> the waves are just -- >> amazing. >> all right. thank you. >>> the city of fremont is the new guardian of a-week-old colt. the police department posted pictures of him with a new stuffed animal on facebook. he is recuperating now at the veteran center after being -- vet center after being found injured. police made contact with the owner. the owner agreed to surrender the animal to the city. animal services is working to find a new owner once the horse is recovered but it needs six months to recuperate. >>> adam performed a duet tonight on american idol. [ singing ] >> he is 28-years-old and he was joined by haily rine heart who came in third during the 10th season of americ

coming up-godzilla el nino. we've had snow- ice- and tornados this season- but what does it all mean for spring?we take a closer look- next. plus-what goes in to making sure a horse is ready for a show?coming up in tonight's ag life report- we get a preview of a festival this weekend- .overnight...mostly cloudy. flurries. lows in the mid 20s. northwestwinds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. chance ofprecipitation 20 percent..friday...mostly sunny. scattered flurries in the morning. highsin the upper 30s. northwest winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to40 mph. wind chill values as low as 9 above in the morning..friday night...partly cloudy. lows in the mid 20s. northwestwinds 10 to 15 mph. gusts up to 30 mph in the evening. .saturday...sunny. highs in the mid 40s. west winds around 10 mphwith gusts up to 20 mph. .saturday night...mostly clear. lows around 30. west winds around10 mph with gusts up to 30 mph..sunday and sunday night...mostly clear. highs in the lower 60s.lows in the mid 30s. .monday through tuesda

>> el nino remains immense. it's had a powerful impact over the last six months. across the united states, the fingerprint of el nino is on all these events. >> reporter: turns out, the el nino is so big, it shifted the jet stream further north, allowing storms to batter northern california and the pacific northwest. rain-soaked cliffs near san francisco have been dropping into the ocean. but these northern storms are also dramatically boosting california's snow pack, now the decade. spring snow melt will help fill the state's depleted reservoirs and provide 30% of california's water supply. the temperature hit 90 degrees here today in los angeles, and that is a new record for this date, but forecasters say they still expect those el nino rains and cooler temperatures to hit los angeles and, scott, they say that will happen in the next couple of weeks. >> pelley: ben tracy for us tonight. ben, thank you. well, there has been precious little water in southern and eastern africa where el nino is the u.n. says as many as a million children are at risk of starvation.

>> el nino remains immense. it has the had a powerful impact over the last six months. volatile weather we have had across the united states, the fingerprint of el nino is on all these events. >> reporter: turns out the el nino is so big it shifted the jet stream further north. allowing storms to batter northern california and pacific north west. rain soaked cliffs near san francisco have been dropping into the ocean. but northern storms are also dramatically boosting california snow pack. now the deepest it has been in more than a decade. spring snow melt will help fill the state's depleted reservoirs and 30% of california's water supply. the temperature hit 90 here today in los angeles. that is a new record for this date. but forecasters say they still expect those el nino rains and cooler temperatures to hit los angeles and scott they say that will happen in the next couple of weeks. >> ben tracy for us tonight. ben, thank you. >>> well there has been precious little water in southern and eastern africa where

here's an el nino update. you can see we have been well above the el nino threshold this past fall and winter. it's been a strong el nino. to the right of the dotted line, we see the different model solutions--quite a wide variety! the dotted line represents the average of those models, which suggests a switch to la nina by next winter. la nina is the oppostite of el nino and a la nina winter usually follows an el nino winter. what would that mean for us? if it materializes, we would likely see a cold and stormy winter next winter. we have 2 final alan jackson tickets to give away tonight on ask fred! keep those questions coming to fhexom@kcautv.c abc9 news facebook page. jenna/tim/fred (jenna) (fred) you bet! tim: and when we come back..a story out of a small town in florida that celebrates black history month tim: americlessons are emerging from a small town in florida. int augustine was instrumental in shaping the dialogue of racial equality in our country. jenna: but it's not a story that gets a lot of att

these wild weather swings that said, in part by the phenomenon known as el nino. that's the warming of the pacific that leads to drought in much of africa and storms and high temperatures on america's west coast. we have two reports on this tonight, beginning with ben tracy in southern california. >> reporter: this is winter on the west coast, with temperatures running 15-25 degrees above normal, it explooks feels more like july than february. >> it is so hot outside. it's crazy. we're just kind of embracing it and going with it. >> wow, look at this. >> reporter: californians were expecting this-- nonstop rainstorms fueled pie one of the largest el ninos on record. but after heavy rains last month, southern california is on a hot and dry streak. it's been 15 days since a drop of rain fell in los angeles. nasa climatologist bill patzert famously called this massive pacific ocean a godzilla el nino, predicted to drench drought-ravaged california. is this godzilla more bark than bite? >> el nino remains immense. it's had a powerful impact over the last six months. a

el nino is one of them. but like you heard in the piece, there's a lot of stuff involved with this. >> so many different models, thank you so much maya. >>> senator bernie sanders is making a stop in fort collins tonight ahead of colorado's caucuses tuesday. his supporters began filling up csu's arena about an hour ago. the rally begins around 7:00 tonight and we will have more from the campaign trail in the next half hour. plus, early polls from three key super tuesday states. >>> colorado state patrol is trying to identify a woman hit and killed overnight along i-25 and johnstown. it happened around 3:00 a.m. according to investigators, she was hit by an suv while walking on the left shoulder of the highway. she died at the scene. investigators do not suspect drugs or alcohol played factors. >>> longmont police are looking for a man accused of kidnapping his estranged wife and holding her and his own mother against their will. both women are now safe. 49-year-old richard munn is accused of kid 23457ing his

while scientists keep a close eye on the patterns of past el nino seasons. >> this is from the el nino in 1998. >> reporter: meteorologist jan 'nol knolls says the el nino was typical behavior but the last two weeks of dry weather doesn't match up to what we saw in '98 or in '83. >> so we've not seen that rainfall continuing like we've had in some of the past el ninos. >> reporter: but he also stresses not all el ninos are alike. >> if we get normal rainfall through the rest of the year, you know, we're going to be taking the edge off the drought, but it's not going to go away. >> reporter: meteorologists say a typical california winter usually has a 19-day dry spell in the middle of winter, but on a typical el nino that dry spell usually comes at the beginning of the season. reporting live from stevens creek reservoir, michelle roberts, nbc bay area news. >>> you can keep track of our changing weather, rain or sunshine on our free nbc bay area app. you can get the latest forecast and the temperatures for the micro climate, 24/7. >>> life-threatening injuries for a driver after a head-

ord temperatures and people asking what happened to el nino. a strong start to the rainy system and now a long stretch of dry weather. two reports to get to. first kpix joe velazquez predicting the rains will return. joe. >> reporter: gorgeous night veronica, the kind of night you make plans to bring your family and sit outside and eat. for el nino, too early to celebrate. >> that is beautiful. >> reporter: february in the bay area. >> perfect. >> reporter: it is beach weather. >> this is a nice break. >> t-shirt weather. >> reporter: picnic weather. we need rain but these types of beautiful days are bittersweet. >> i feel guilty for being happy about it because i know we need the rain but el nino doesn't mean rain every day. >> el nino is in the pacific says the meteorological professor at san jose state. it is influencing our weather pattern adding more rain this winter. this will be more. consider this a break. >> we have a mild spell in february. it lasts for one or two maybe even three weeks and then it will get cool and rainy again. i hav

la nina is the oppostite of el nino and a la nina winter el nino winter. what would that mean for us? if it materializes, we would likely see a cold and stormy winter next winter. we have 2 final alan jackson tickets to give away tonight on ask fred! keep those questions coming to fhexom@kcautv.c om or enter on our abc9 news facebook page. fred: tim: jenna: (jenna) thanks, fred. (fred) you bet! (fred) you bet! jenna: it's a condition thought to affect 0.10" of rain. radar shows dry conditions now, but later tonight a light mix of snow and freezing drizzle will be possible. cloudy skies are seen on the port neal welding company skycam hd from the ho chunk centre in downtown sioux city. 37 was the high today and 34 the low. in storm lake, plenty of clouds are seen on the skycam hd. 36 is our sioux city temperature. local temperatures range from the 20s to the 40s. winds are system dropped plenty of snow and ice in parts of central iowa. and you can see tonight's system currently pushing through the dakotas. the stormcast hd shows the arrival of mainly snow i

due in part to a strong el nino. we'll ask a nasa scientist whether the storms have lived up to their expectations. >> john: nice and calm today, but chilly? >> jayme: it is. temperatures will reflect each and every morning what you see here. 30s late tonight. 40s elsewhere. 30s over north central florida. it wills like we're enduring the coolest period. a baby step warm-up deepinger into the weekend. leesburg at 50. we're 44 in the southern space coast. and clouds on top. do not fret. no rain tied to the clouds. this is a tail end of troughing. an elongated low over the carolinas. and over the northern gulf it gives you a good indication of what will play out weather-wise. we have no rain, no clouds, just ample sunshine. high-passing clouds early. 61 by 5:00 p.m. 54 by 8:00 p.m. gradual warm up in towards 80 degrees. and the midweek peak of next week. >> kristin: the biggest issue is on i-4 is in seminole county. where we had an earlier crash. it's since been cleared. we're still seeing slowdowns here. not a bad ide

nonstop rain storms fueled by one of the largest el ninos on record. but after heavy rain last month. southern california is on a hot and dry streak. it has been 15 days since a drop of rain fell in los angeles. nasa climatologist bill pastert called the massive band of warm water in a godzilla el nino predicted to drench drought ravaged california. >> is this godzilla more bark than bite? >> el nino remains immense. it has the had a powerful impact over the last six months. even this winter, all of the volatile weather we have had across the united states, the fingerprint of el nino is on all these events. >> reporter: turns out the el nino is so big it shifted the allowing storms to batter northern california and pacific north west. rain soaked cliffs near san francisco have been dropping into the ocean. but northern storms are also dramatically boosting california snow pack. now the deepest it has been in more than a decade. spring snow melt will help fill the state's depleted reservoirs and 30% of california's water supply. the temperature hit 90 h

. >> extreme weather fueled by el nino. tonight we'll look at the effects from the u.s. to africa where millions are threatened with famine. >> people haven't been able to plant their crops that they need to survive. >> and -- it's showtime for america's top dogs. >> it doesn't get any better. >> announcer: this is the "cbs overnight news." >>> the president has weighed in on the political phenomenon that is donald trump. president obama was answering a late yesterday and he did not mince words. >> i continue to believe mr. trump will not be president. and the reason is because i have a lot of faith in the american people. and i think they recognize that -- that being president is a serious job. it's not hosting a talk show or a reality show, it's not promotion, it's not marketing, it's hard. >> well, republicans were also hard on trump today. nicky haley the governor of south carolina said she will not endorse trump before the primary there on saturday. and in fact, hamy y haley said trump is everything a governor does not want in a president. major garrett with the tru

delta residents we spoke with are afraid of the el nino. at the corner bank in rio vista we met sarah cummings. her home is right up against a levee. >> if the levee breaks, we wouldn't have -- i wouldn't have enough notice if the levee broke anywhere near to get out because the levee road is my way out. >> in walnut grove we ran into another resident. >> this is the sacramento river over here and you can see that's the levee right there. if we get say three or four days of rain in a row these levees will not be able to sustain the pressure. >> a state report suggests the worst case scenario would see 500 dead, 300,000 placed. sacramento could be under 20 feet of water. driving around here, you can't help but wonder, why were people allowed to build on a flood plane? >> kind of the root of the problem. a decade of natural disasters, now when floods come they come fast, hard, the water rises quickly because it has nowhere else to go. >> as if the state doesn't have enough to worry about a few miles south there is a cruel iron yiirony. the fl

climate change versus el nino. coming up. what is to blame for the rollercoaster of a winter season we've had here in the mountains. >> water for life and hope. helping the people of flint, >> new tonight, a community effort under way to help the people of flint, michigan. abccm and nazaratl are taking water donations for the people in michigan. the water crisis prompted local leaders to try to help. they parked a trailer on the church property and will collect donations of water, warm clothes and food until the trailer is full. one pastor says it's a crisis that demands action people are color are actually sometimes overlooked, not valued, because kind of political clout and influence to get the kind of services that other more affluent communities might get. >> abccm and some local churches are calling on businesses and people to donate as much as possible. the trailer will stay at the church until it's full and then go on to charlotte before heading to flint, michigan. >> it's been a rollercoaster winter season here in the

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

here's an el nino update. you can see we have been well above the el nino threshold this past fall and winter. it's been a strong el nino. to the right of the dotted line, we see the different model solutions--quite a wide variety! the dotted line represents the average of those models, which suggests a switch to la nina by nexex winter. la nininis the oppostite of el nini and a la nina winter usually follows an el nino winter. what would that mean for us? if it materializes, we would likely see a cold afd stormy winter next winter. we have 2 final alan jackson tickets to give away tonight on ask fred! keep those questions coming to fhexom@kcautv.c or enter on our >> dicky: from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live"! tonight -- gwen stefani. secretary of state john kerry. and guillermo at the 2016 grammy awards. with cleto and the cletones. and now, step aside, here's jimmy kimmel!

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

and in this el niÑo year where it's one of the strongest el anyone yows on record, and we are seeingmoisture, the large surf along the coast, we're seeing all the caightsz's there, but we're not stege rain. this week is going to be no different. on the east coast they've had plenty of rain and snow. we're tracking. there's a great example. that is a very powerful storm. el niÑo has helped to create that, with that storm system, as powerful as it is, it's taken all its energy, all its moisture, it's going north what. we see from this and what we will see is large surf emanating from the center out of the wind field. we'll see large surf over the next three or four days but we're not going to see the rain. it's not great. i guess what i was thinking, if we look at current temperatures, how warm it is, with the fact that we have this massive el niÑo this year, we're pretty lucky we're having this. what if we didn't have in the what if we stayed at a year like this without an el niÑo, we're talking 20% of rainfall, the fifth year of a drought. even with el niÑo we're looking at some pret