The eventual strength of this event will be determined by the maximum seasonal departure in the region we refer to as Nino 3.4, a region in the equatorial central Pacific.  At CPC, we characterize an event as weak, when the maximum departure falls between 0.5 and 0.9 degrees Celsius, moderate when the departure is between 1.0 and 1.4, and strong when the maximum anomaly is 1.5 or greater.