A huge El Niño could devastate Southern California

[jpak]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-huge-el-nino-could-devastate-southern-california-20150813-story.html

It started in October 1997 in Mexico, when a hurricane fueled by El Niño slammed into Acapulco, causing massive flooding and hundreds of deaths.

A few weeks later, storms started hitting Southern California. Mobile home parks in Huntington Beach flooded, forcing rescuers to use inflatable boats and a catamaran to rescue residents. Then in December, the skies opened up in Orange County in what meteorologists described as the biggest rainstorm in a century. More than seven inches fell in parts of south Orange County in one day. Mudslides destroyed hillside homes. Neighborhoods flooded. Major roads were made impassable by debris.

And that was just the beginning. Over the next few months, a series of powerful storms caused havoc, washing away roads and railroad tracks, overflowing flood control channels, causing 17 deaths and more than half a billion dollars in damage in California. The toll was far worse in Mexico, where Tijuana and other cities faced crippling flooding.

The importance of the El Niño storm of 1997-98 is now coming into focus as scientists say the weather pattern is returning to Southern California with a vengeance.

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[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. Sounds like California has a feast or famine when it comes to water. nt

[KamaAina]

7. You got it.

It can be downright annoying at times.

[B2G]

2. It could also put a huge dent in their drought. nt

[SwankyXomb]

13. Almost all that water

will run straight into the ocean.

[Kber]

3. My son is starting college this fall in So. Cal.

He picked Cali partially for the weather - oh well!

It will still probably beat Rochester, NY or Amherst, MA in February.

[taught_me_patience]

6. Where's he studying at?

I Welcome him to So. Cal. It's going to be really hard to leave once he gets here!

[Kber]

10. Pomona College in Claremont

Yeah - we are somewhat expecting to lose him.

He's used to North East winters, summer humidity, seasonal allergies, and similar inconveniences.

The earthquakes, fires, floods (and, I assume, occasional hordes of locusts?) may be an acceptable tradeoff for him.

[Codeine]

15. Claremont is a great little city.

Far enough from LA to be comfortable but close enough to enjoy the culture.

[PufPuf23]

4. El Niño vs. the Blob: Here's Why California's Drought Probably Won't End Anytime Soon

I posted this article in E&E and Good Reads several weeks ago. Nice graphics.

California could be in for a wetter-than-normal winter, thanks to the mysterious meteorological phenomenon known as El Niño. Weather scientists have been watching El Niño get stronger throughout this year and think it could match or surpass the strongest on record, back in 1997. What does this mean for long-suffering California and its interminable drought? Let us explain.

What the heck is El Niño again?

Normally, equatorial winds in the Pacific Ocean blow toward the west and push warm surface water in that direction. El Niño—"the child," named in reference to Jesus by Spanish-speaking fishermen from South America who noticed, starting centuries ago, unusual weather around Christmas-time—happens every few years when those winds die down or diminish, leaving more warm water pooled along the equator off the coast of South America.

That's been happening this year; the longer the wind pattern remains unusual, the more the eastern Pacific warms up. Here's a map of ocean temperature anomalies (that is, variations from the long-term average) from late June. Notice the band of red and white (white is the hottest) in the center of the Pacific and the cooler-than-usual water off Southeast Asia? That's El Niño:

(Side note: Satellite maps like these are a prime example of the kind of research GOP presidential contender Ted Cruz wants to block NASA from conducting.) Now check out the same reading from last week. It's gotten stronger:


NASA

That trend is probably going to continue throughout this year, said Daniel Swain, an atmospheric scientist at Stanford University.

"It hasn't peaked yet, and it's already quite strong," he said.......

article at: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/07/sorry-california-el-nino-wont-save-you-drought

[taught_me_patience]

5. This El Nino is shaping up to be so strong

it will completely and totally overwhelm this blob and destroy it. The coming Kelvin wave is literally off the chart anomaly.

[PufPuf23]

8. An artifact of climate change is that California

can have strong El Nino and strong drought at the same time.

Climate change means more and more extreme peak climate events and increased biological extinctions as well as coastal flooding.

And there is no going back no alas.

[Arugula Latte]

9. Nature will fuck us over, and who can blame it.

[PasadenaTrudy]

11. Bring it on n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. I remember.

The colonials flooded. People died. It was quite ugly

[Le Taz Hot]

14. This person says it's the "wrong" kind of El Nino

to devastate California. Apparently, this is an international dateline El Nino and not a West Coast El Nino.

I was all happy until I found this out. Here's the link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141176487#post23