California’s rainy season wasn’t supposed to play out like this.
With one of the strongest El Niño events ever observed peaking in the tropical Pacific Ocean, this was supposed to be an unusually stormy — possibly even destructive — winter, with a parade of storms rolling into central and southern California, one after the other.

At least this is the picture conjured up by many media outlets, and the expectation of people who experienced flooding and mudslides during last powerhouse El Niño event in 1997-98.