DELUGE STILL EXPECTED.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

Reports that the El Nino scare is over - because cold water in the Pacific is on a collision course with storm-spawning warm water - are just wishful thinking, the country's top weather experts say.

The global El Nino weather phenomenon, triggered by abnormally warm Pacific currents, is still expected to wreak havoc on Southern California this winter, bringing perhaps the heaviest rains in a century.

``The El Nino is still there and, if anything, it has strengthened,'' said Vernon Kousky, a research meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Silver Spring, Md.

Climatologist Tim Barnett disputes some news reports that a patch of cold water situated west of the warm water mass - now the size of the continental United States - could neutralize El Nino.

No way, says Barnett, who is based at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.

Scientists noticed the presence of similar cooler water masses during past El Ninos, and they didn't weaken the impact of El Nino storms, which claimed lives and caused millions of dollars of damage in the region in 1982 and 1983, Barnett said.

If the chillier water has any effect, it won't be felt until next summer, when it could trigger a La Nina, which generally causes winters in the area to be drier than usual, he said.

``You have to set people straight on this,'' Barnett said. ``We still have a huge glob of warm water out there that we are going to have to live with for the next five or so months.

``We are stuck with whatever winter is going to bring.''