Record-breaking hurricane activity in Pacific Ocean is battering the California coast

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Set us as preferred A record-breaking season of tropical storms and hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean is battering the Southern California coastline.Researchers at Colorado State University confirmed on Monday that storms this summer have generated a higher accumulated cyclone energy, which measures the total wind energy, intensity and duration of tropical storms and hurricanes, than ever before, surpassing the prior seasonal record set in 2018.“It’s been a wild season,” said Daniel Cayan, a climate researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, noting that parts of Southern California‘s coast have already experienced significant damage ahead of any winter storms in store for the region amid the strongest El Niño on record.The historic Long Beach boardwalk buckled after a barrage of storms over the past month.

As Tropical Storm Rachel approached the coast this weekend, powerful waves slammed into oceanfront homes, leaving some on the verge of collapse.In Newport Beach, water from a massive swell—double the size that was initially predicted—blasted through 20-foot berms erected at the beach and inundated roads with about a foot of sea water ahead of Rachel’s arrival.Elsewhere along the coast, the continuous battering from higher than normal ocean levels and strong waves this summer has washed away sand profoundly altering the Wedge in Newport Beach, San Onofre, Laguna Beach and San Clemente.The exceptionally active hurricane season in the Pacific is influenced by several factors including a long-term ocean heating trend caused by of global warming and higher nearshore ocean temperatures and a decrease in wind shear from El Niño, which can significantly weaken hurricane activity, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources climate scientist Daniel Swain explained during a recent webinar.“El Niño in...