Tropical Storm Rachel is behaving in unusual ways. What that means for SoCal this weekend

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Set us as preferred Tropical Storm Rachel is expected to make landfall either in northern Baja California or San Diego County as early as Saturday night, bringing with it a slew of potential hazards, including damaging coastal flooding.The National Hurricane Center warned that Rachel, spinning hundreds of miles off the coast of San Diego, could pick up some strength before arriving on the West Coast — an unusual occurrence for storms in the tropical eastern Pacific.

Typically, storms weaken significantly once they enter those cooler waters.But El Niño conditions and an ongoing marine heat wave have pushed ocean temperatures 10 to 13 degrees higher than normal, providing a far-more-conducive environment for Rachel.

“It’s notable that this is an unusual event that’s being made possible by both coincidence of this early arriving low-pressure trough off the coast of California and the record warm — and I do mean record warm — ocean temperatures off the coast of California right now,” UC Agriculture and Natural Resources climate scientist Daniel Swain said during a briefing Friday.California The blistering heat that has baked Southern California for days is coming to an end, with rain on tap for the weekend and early next week, along with a risk of potentially damaging coastal flooding.The National Weather Service office in San Diego on Friday issued a rare tropical storm watch for most of San Diego County, including San Diego, Chula Vista, Carlsbad and Oceanside, meaning that tropical storm-force winds are possible over the next 48 hours.

It’s only the second time a tropical storm watch has been issued in California.Coastal flooding will remain the biggest concern for the region in the coming days, particularly for south-facing shores, given the combination of high tides, a higher-than-typical water level and...