Hi Ric,

I understand your point.  According to NOAA's criteria for defining an El Nino or La Nina event, we will not be certain whether or not an ENSO event officially occurred until at least 5 overlapping seasons with ENSO conditions have passed.  However, NOAA issues a La Nina Advisory when recent conditions satisfy La Nina conditions, and the expectation is that these conditions will persist long enough to satisfy the duration requirement.  This is what happened a few days ago - an official La Nina Advisory was posted.  So technically, I suppose the message is that "La Nina conditions are here and expected to continue."  From a practical perspective for the purpose of preparing the general public and users of climate prediction information, I am not sure if that message would be much different from "La Nina is back."  So while I appreciate your point, I am hopeful that the main message is being reached by those who are most impacted by the La Nina Advisory.