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El Nino threatens burn areas; Tom Selleck pilfering water?

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Be careful what you wish for. That old adage may ring true, if the predicted heavy El Nino storms this winter bring with them unexpected calamity.

Scientists at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have stated that there are increasing chances that heavy storms will drench California by January; conditions they say are “lined up” in ways not seen since the winter of 1997-98, when downpours filled reservoirs and sent rivers raging. The Los Angeles Basin has witnessed some of the driest years in its history resulting in numerous wildfires which have burned away chaparral and watershed. If El Nino does bring heavy rain, the burned areas will have no way to absorb the excess water and officials believe mudslides are sure to follow.

“El Nino is good news for California,” said Mike Halpert, deputy director for NOAA’s climate prediction center in College Park, Md. “There are obviously no guarantees, but above-normal rainfall is becoming more likely.”

NOAA officials this week stated that the chances are now “greater than 90 percent” that El Nino conditions that began in March will remain through the winter months; that figure is up from 85 percent last month and 50 percent from four months ago.

“We’re on the right path now,” said Michael Anderson, a climatologist with the California Department of Water Resources. “We want to see it continue to strengthen and build—and certainly to not weaken any time before the new year.”

Officials with the water resources board say that with each passing month the situation is looking more like the 1997 storm season. However, they explained, California’s next rainy season won’t start in earnest for at lease five more months. They’re looking at what is called the “3.4 region” along the equator near South America that is considered a key indicator of El Nino trends; this area was reportedly 1 degree Fahrenheit warmer than normal from April to June. Currently the water there is 1.6 degrees warmer than average—the warmest since 1997.

At the peak of the winter of 1997, the water along the equator was 4.1 degrees above average. Today’s supercomputers—far more accurate than they were 18 years ago—at NOAA, NASA and at other world-leading scientific institutions—are projecting the temperatures in that ocean region by November will hit close to the mark of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (above average) which will be reportedly the warmest since 1997.

In other drought news, it seems the star of the “Magnum P.I.” television show is being investigated himself. Actor Tom Selleck, currently starring in the police drama “Blue Bloods,” and his wife, have allegedly stolen truckloads of water from a public hydrant that has been delivered to his sprawling Hidden Valley ranch. It was alledgedly used primarily to irrigate an avocado orchard.

The Calleguas Municipal Water District said in a complaint filed this week in Ventura County Superior Court that on more than a dozen occasions since 2013, a white truck filled up at a Thousand Oaks hydrant and hauled water to the couple’s 60-acre ranch.

Before filing the complaint, the water district tried to get the couple to halt the unlawful water deliveries. In November 2013, the water district sent cease-and-disist letters to the couple’s home and to an address on Avenue of the Stars in Century City, the latter linked to the property. The complaint also said that on four separate days in March, the same water truck was reportedly spotted filling up at the same hydrant and proceeded to deliver water to the couple’s ranch.

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