El Niño and our Rooftops

If you're wondering when El Niño is supposed to start bringing heavy rain to Southern California it's likely to be after the beginning of 2016. Bill Patzert at JPL thinks we'll see 'gullywashers' hit our rooftops in January, February and March.

Patzert monitors images from space that have been showing the system that's heading our way. He says what he is seeing is a strengthening system that he believes is "too big to fail" and appears much stronger than the one we had back in 1997.

For roofing companies this is a great news! David Paine, who owns Preferred Roofing in Van Nuys, says business was slower before the prediction of a big El Niño. Now, he says, "Calls are coming in at a rate we can't even keep up with it," and adds that homeowners that call are "worrying about El Niño. It's on everybody's mind. Everyone is calling in asking if we can get it don't before the El Niño hits."

Paine says the biggest problem is that roofing contractors have many weeks worth of work already planned because homeowners are worried their roofing could leak like a sieve when, and if, El Niño hits!

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