A huge El Niño could devastate Southern California

The strengthening El Niño in the Pacific Ocean has the potential to become one of the most powerful on record, as warming ocean waters surge toward the Americas, setting up a pattern that could bring once-in-a-generation storms this winter to drought-parched California.

The importance of the El Niño storm of 1997-98 is now coming into focus as scientists say the weather pattern is returning to Southern California with a vengeance.

One more take on the potential power of the El Nino from the Washington Post.