America's Northwest set for a stormy winter and spring as La Nina builds in the Pacific

The residents of Washington state are used to receiving more than their fair share of rain.

But the Pacific Northwest will have to cope with stormier weather than usual this winter and spring, scientists have warned.

Nasa researchers monitoring La Nina - known in some quarters as 'the diva of drought' - said the Pacific Ocean phenomenon is peaking.

This, they claim, increases the odds of the Pacific Northwest bearing the brunt of stormy conditions and wet weather.

La Nina phenomenon is associated with cooler sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific.

It brings dry conditions to the southern and southwestern U.S. states and stormy conditions to the Pacific Northwest.

Now sea surface height data from Nasa's Jason-1 and -2 satellites show that the milder repeat of last year's strong La Nina has recently intensified. Read More