Last year’s El Niño turned out to have less impact on California than expected — the forecast for much higher rainfall did not come to pass, though precipitation totals achieved nearly normal levels and reservoirs in Northern California refilled. Now we are entering a period climate scientists call La Niña. El Niño is characterized by higher than normal temperatures in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean, the effects of which change weather patterns. La Niña, which means The ‘little girl’ in Spanish, is the opposite, the anti-El Niño.