That statement is flat out wrong. All equatorial Pacific high temperature anomalies are below 2.6 C positive and most are below 2 C positive. It is moderate. In fact there is a bigger positive temp anomaly in the South Central Pacific. If El Nino is strong, what does that make the South Central Pacific ? The storms are being driven by the strong Jet Stream. Would occur with or without El Nino conditions. The storms are coming from the Central North Pacific which is cold. That is why we had snow in spots at 1,200 feet here along the Rancho Cucamonga foothills last night. Saw it personally. And it was very cold here last night. Don't ever recall being able to see my breath during the last El Nino about 10 years ago.
Well I have seen worse El Nino maps and that South Pacific temperature anomaly is weird.
I live near Chaffey College at about 1,700' elevation and we didn't get any snow as far as I could tell. The first storms 1/18-1/20 were pretty warm but the storms of 1/21 and 1/22 were a lot colder. I did get some good pictures today of the low snow level which looks to be about 2,500' or so.
I don't understand why the official reports seem to be overstating the weakening El Nino.