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Climate prediction: Wet start to 2015 expected on California coast

The most recent climate charts from the scientists at NOAA show we're likely to have a wetter-than-normal start to the New Year. This is the first time in five years a prediction like this has been called for California and the Central Coast.

Bob Benjamin is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey. He says the strong, stubborn ridge of high pressure that kept storms out of the picture for the past few years doesn't appear to have the same force this season.

Benjamin says while the climate prediction doesn't forecast any upcoming storms, it does suggest an overall trend in the months to come.

Despite the favorable window of opportunity, scientists are not predicting a season wet enough to completely pull us out of the drought, but enough to at least bring some more relief.

On the Central Coast, the immediate forecast is for a lot of sunshine heading into the new year with temperatures right around normal, but Benjamin says they're seeing the early signs of a system that could bring us some rain in early January.