Photo taken in Malibu, winter of 1997-98.

It’s February. Today (February 26, 2016), the weather is forecasted to be as high as 78º in Los Angeles. In short, it’s hot. This is not what we expected for this winter. We expected an epic winter. A winter like no other. An El Niño winter. For the past six months, Angelenos have heard murmurs of El Niño: a natural phenomenon in which dry winds pushes warmer water toward the Pacific Coast.

Excitement brewed as we heard stories of venomous sea snakes washing up three different times on California beaches.

Hope of alleviating the drought stirred as the California drought nears the five year mark. Some looked back to 1997 and 1998, when the rain of El Niño wreaked havoc on the buildings of Southern California.

All our optimism has been squashed. On February 16th, the temperature in LA exceeded the historical average by 20º. This strange heat wave is expected to last the next week and a half. In addition, there’s no rain in the upcoming forecast. The snow, which fell so heavily on Mammoth and Big Bear earlier this winter, no longer falls with the same vigor or prolificacy.

So what’s up with El Niño? It might be a dud. Only time will tell.