It's official now - El Nino is back. Meteorologists from NOAA say that weather conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean have met the El Nino threshold. Data from buoys in the Pacific and satellites show several months in a row of warmer-than-average waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, as well as above-average rainfall in western South America.

The jury is still out, however, on what, if anything, this means for the United States. This is expected to be a weak to moderate El Nino and not the strong version like the last time around in 1997-98 when ocean water temperatures in the tropical Pacific rose 5 to 10 degrees. El Ninos generally bring fewer Atlantic hurricanes, but this El Nino may not develop quickly enough or be strong enough to influence this year's hurricane season.

Already, however, the Climate Prediction Center's forecast for the winter shows a tendency toward above-average temperatures in the northern US and wetter-than-average in the south, both calling cards of an El Nino.