Does El Nino induce a tendency to create "atmospheric rivers" with storm systems. The 82-83 El Nino brought copious amounts of rain to the San Francisco area in January '83 where in particular the S.F. peninsula received their annual rainfall average in only three days. The strong storm which caused this stalled off the northern Calif. coast. Sitting motionless it fed a continuous stream of rain fetching from beyond Hawaii to the area. One location on the southwest side of the coast range, Ben Lomond, otherwise locally known as "the sponge", picked up over 3 feet of rain. Even on the leeward side of the coast range locations received 10 to 20 inches or more in those three days, in some cases 150% of their annual average rainfall. Finally my question- are there statistically more occurrences of these events during a strong El Nino?