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PDO: A climate pattern stronger than El Nino

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An image showing the positive / warm phase of a PDO and the negative / cold phase. The terms warm and cold refer to the temperature of water off the west coast of America.
JPL / NASA
An image showing the positive / warm phase of a PDO and the negative / cold phase. The terms warm and cold refer to the temperature of water off the west coast of America.

Move over El Nino: Scientists now have their eyes on another, stronger climate pattern that could deliver rain to Southern California for years.

Move over El Nino: Scientists now have their eyes on another, stronger climate pattern that could deliver rain to Southern California for years. 

It's called Pacific Decadal Oscillation. If that name is too hard to remember, you can just call it the PDO. 

Bill Patzert of Jet Propulsion Laboratory explained more.

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