The U.S. Climate Prediction Center says there's a great chance La Nina could return for the second straight year.
A La Nina watch was declared Thursday for the September-November season and could last through the winter.
La Nina is described as "a natural cycle marked by cooler-than-average seawater in the central Pacific Ocean," according to USA Today.
Veteran California Climatologist Bill Patzert says the return of La Nina could result in a very dry winter, making the drought in California even worse.
"If we don't start conserving water this summer, next winter is going to be even worse," he says.
The drought has had an impact on California, with many reservoirs (including Lake Orville) being 50 percent lower than normal. The Department of Water Resources predict the lake will go below it's normal low sometime in August or September.
In May, Governor Gavin Newsom extended his April 21 drought emergency proclamation to include 39 additional counties across Northern and Central California, 30% of the state’s population is under a drought state of emergency.
Patzert says that back-to-back La Nina's are not rare, as they've occurred multiple times since 1950.
