Record Pacific Hurricane Season Drives Unprecedented Damage Along Southern California Coast
An unprecedented Pacific hurricane season has battered Southern California, causing severe coastal erosion and damage to infrastructure.
A historic Pacific hurricane season has generated the greatest accumulated cyclone energy ever measured, according to Colorado State University, overtaking the previous record from 2018. The surge of storms has already damaged the Long Beach boardwalk, breached 20-foot berms in Newport Beach, and reshaped beaches at the Wedge, San Onofre, Laguna Beach and San Clemente. Climate researchers attribute the intensity to rising near-shore ocean temperatures and a powerful El Niño that diminishes wind shear, effectively fueling storms.
A Kelvin wave has added extra sea-level rise, compounding the erosion and flooding. Authorities in Long Beach are reinforcing defenses with sandbags and a new berm, while meteorologists anticipate a high likelihood of further tropical systems forming in the Central and South Pacific within the next seven days. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center predicts an almost certain very strong El Niño, raising concerns about winter storms coinciding with king tides later in the year.
Why it matters
The unprecedented storm activity threatens coastal communities, infrastructure and future flood risk in Southern California.
How this story developed
- Oct 5 Rainy week ahead for Tampa Bay as cold front stalls and Gulf system develops
- Oct 7 The National Hurricane Center now expects Isaias to intensify into a hurricane before Gulf Coast landfall.
- Oct 8 The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch from Bay St. Louis to Indian Pass and a hurricane warning for the Alabama coast.
- Oct 8 Tropical Storm Rachel is moving toward northern Baja and the Gulf of California, while Hurricane Simon is expected to become a major hurricane on Mexico’s west coast, and Hurricane Isaias is strengthening in the Atlantic toward the US Gulf.
- Oct 9 Waves from former Hurricane Rachel ripped apart the Long Beach Peninsula boardwalk, leaving a vacant home on the verge of falling into the sea.
- Oct 10 Mobile, Alabama imposed a curfew as the storm approached.
- Oct 12 City crews began reinforcing the boardwalk’s timber bulkhead while distributing additional sandbags.
- Oct 12 Simon turned northwest, keeping its eye off the coast of Jalisco.
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