It's less likely an El Niño event will bring rain to parched California next fall or winter. And, as Ed Joyce reports from Sacramento, the drought is expected to continue next year.
National Weather Service forecasters say the chance of El Niño is about 70 percent during the Northern Hemisphere this summer and is close to 80 percent during the fall and early winter.
Michelle Mead, with the National Weather Service in Sacramento says the chance of a strong El Niño is not favored and forecasters anticipate El Niño will peak at weak-to-moderate strength during the late fall and early winter.
MEAD: "El Niño right now is not looking like a slam dunk as far as helping us with our drought scenario."
Mead says if there is a strong El Niño, it would mean an increased chance of rain - but mostly for Southern California. But she says even that is unlikely.
MEAD: "There's no guarantee that even that Southern California signature will develop."
She says even if normal amounts of rain fall in California next year, it would not end the drought.