Kelvin wave hitting Southern California: What to expect as El Nio threatens the coast again

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Set us as preferred The Kelvin wave bearing down on Southern California this week is not the kind that draws surfers.You don’t see it crash on shore, and by itself, it’s probably not even noticeable.But it can have a profound effect, adding 6 to 12 inches to background sea levels, potentially for months.

This is a major concern when combined with other sources of sea level rise, and could exacerbate the woes of California coastal cities and property owners.The “coastally trapped” aquatic pulse has been slithering up the coast for weeks, fascinating scientists and weather watchers as it marched across the equatorial Pacific before splitting upon hitting the coast of Peru.“It is arriving now,” UC Agriculture and Natural Resources climate scientist Daniel Swain said in an interview.Swain said there’s not a particular singular moment of arrival.

It’s more like “a gradual increase, because the surge, or the bulge in the ocean height itself, is hundreds of miles wide ...it takes a while to build.” California Coastal communities are beginning to assess the damage from waves and flooding as Southern California braces for more potentially destructive conditions from a ‘coastally trapped Kelvin wave.’Dillon Amaya, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University’s Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, said last week that he expected the wave would arrive in San Diego in the middle to later part of this week, and in Los Angeles perhaps three days later.

“The Kelvin wave by itself will not cause flooding,” Amaya said.However, “if there are storms forecasted or a high tide coming up, that is when the Kelvin wave could exacerbate damages.”That could come into play this week.

Southern California is expected to face southerly swells from a distant hurricane — Hurricane Rachel �...