It's official: NOAA formally declares an official El Nino

Monday, March 9, 2015, 12:22 PM - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has officially declared that El Niño is active.

That's the given name for what happens when there are warmer than normal waters at the equator in the central Pacific. The phenomenon can impact global weather, but NOAA says it'll be relative tame this year.

"Due to the weak strength of the El Niño, widespread or significant global weather pattern impacts are not anticipated," the agency said last week. "However, certain impacts often associated with El Niño may appear this spring in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, such as wetter-than-normal conditions along the U.S. Gulf Coast."

Making the announcement doesn't mean firing the starter's gun on the season. Weather Network Chief Meteorologist Chris Scott says declaring an El Niño is usually a retroactive measure, like 'declaring an official recession.'

"It's all rear-view and somewhat anti-climactic as everyone basically knew what was going on," Scott says. "You essentially need seven months of El Niño 'conditions' to make an El Niño 'episode' at which point NOAA officially declares it an El Nino."

The Weather Network based its Winter Outlook in part due to weak (or, as Scott puts it 'wannabe') El Niño conditions in the Pacific, and the weighting of the warmer-than-normal water toward the central Pacific, rather than the eastern Pacific.

"This recent declaration doesn't change anything - it's simply that a technical definition has been met," he says. "The bottom line is we have had weak El Niño conditions in the tropical Pacific since fall and these are persisting. The impact on our weather patterns becomes less during the warm months so while it's a factor in our seasonal projections, it's not an overwhelming driver as we look towards summer."

SOURCE: NOAA

SPRING OUTLOOK: The winter won't last forever. See what's ahead below, and online.