This winter is likely to be a cool, wet one, according to State Climatologist David Stooksbury.

The region is experiencing an "el nino" weather pattern this year, which occurs about 25 percent of the winters, with the other 25 percent in the warm, dry "la nina" pattern and 50 percent in neutral patterns, he said.

As for the effect of the week’s rain on flooding potential when soils are already saturated, Stooksbury said, "Any heavy rain particularly over a short period of time has the potential in areas that are prone to flood…The probably of rain events, those have not changed. The probability of having another flood is increased. But we do need to be mindful of that.

He pointed out that winter was the time that soils normally are recharged with water to last them through the dryer summers.

"What’s usual is in October the soils aren’t (normally) as wet as they are now. We’re already entering the normal cool season recharge period. It looks like the most probable outlook for this winter is for a cool, wet winter."