Pacifica’s pier cracked. Parts of Marin County are underwater this week, thanks to the Bay Area’s highest-ever summer tides. And climate scientists expect coastal flooding to get worse this fall and winter, because of the potentially ‘Super’ El Niño brewing thousands of miles away.
Federal scientists are now sure El Niño will affect global weather patterns this year. And Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, said on Tuesday there’s a 90% confidence level that a record-breaking El Niño event will occur, which could intensify storms, heat up ocean water off the California coast and temporarily raise sea levels. Swain said a wetter-than-normal winter is not guaranteed, but San Francisco Bay levels are “almost guaranteed” to be higher.
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“That’s going to be a big concern this year, and it’s only going to grow as this El Niño event intensifies,” Swain said.
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