There is little good news for drought-parched California in the latest forecast for the winter. There is about a 55 percent to 60 percent chance that California will come under the influence of La Niña during the fall and winter 2016-17, it says. La Nina is the name given to a general cooling of Pacific Ocean waters near the equator, the opposite of “El Nino.” What is means for California is general dry weather during the winter with less rain and snow than average. La Nina does pump more rain into the Pacific Northwest.