El Niño is known for bringing soaking storms to California, especially the state’s southern half. A lesser-known side effect of the climate phenomenon? The Pacific Ocean’s famously frigid waters may be a little more welcoming.
El Niño tends to be associated with warmer-than-average ocean temperatures all along the West Coast, NOAA research scientist Dillon Amaya told KTLA’s parent company, Nexstar.
Just how warm are we talking? There’s a range of outcomes, Amaya explained. If you look at the two strongest El Niño events on record – the one from 1997-1998 and the one from 2015-2016 – the water at Scripps Beach in La Jolla got as warm as 74 or 76 degrees in late summer. That’s compared to around 68 degrees in an average year…