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Hello, Point Loma and Ocean Beach!
This past week I’ve been reading through Annie Dillard’s nonfiction classic, “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” and in it Dillard remarks that “there are seven or eight categories of phenomena in the world that are worth talking about, and one of them is the weather.” So for this week I wanted to catch you up on our weather, because it’s been rather strange in this El Niño season.
This past weekend we saw hot temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s and unusually high humidity levels. The humidity and overcast conditions were due to the proximity of Hurricane Odalys and Polo to the San Diego coastline — both storms were positioned hundreds of miles southwest of San Diego.
A coastal flood advisory was also issued on Monday through Wednesday because of the expected high surf generated by the storms.
We’ll be seeing more high surf advisories as the fall goes on. One of the more guaranteed side effects of an El Niño event are Kelvin Waves. Unfortunately, you can’t surf these. They are large planetary waves generated by the weakened trade winds that don’t break but they do hit our shores. I’ll cut to the chase of what that means: Our tides are going to rise.
When a Kelvin Wave hits — during an El Nino event there can be several throughout the season — the baseline of our sea level can rise six inches to a foot. For a place like our beloved Sunset Cliffs, that’s not great news. We already know the sandstone slabs are unstable, and scientists have said it’s likely the Southern California coast will see a decent amount of erosion.
A Kelvin Wave is supposed to hit our coast sometime in the next two weeks. If you have an eye for the tide, you’ll see the difference.
If you thought the seasonal shift into fall would bring cooler weather, think again — the heat will only get worse as the week progresses. As the heat increases though, humidity is expected to drop. Along the coast, temperatures on Saturday and Sunday are expected to rise to the mid 80s while inland San Diego is expected to see temperatures in the 90s yet again.
I don’t know about you, but I sure am ready for cooler weather. While other parts of North America are already seeing the shift in temperature, San Diego seems to be stuck in summer. If only there were a gopher or something to tell us how long summer would last.
Steve Anderson
Peninsula Beacon newsletter host
Peninsula Beacon story spotlight
San Diego County’s iconic coastal locations face triple threat from ‘Super El Niño’
By Thomas Murphy • Times of San Diego
Researchers see multiple threats to San Diego County’s top coastal landmarks from the weather pattern.
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