Tropical Storm Rachel is behaving unusually. What that means for SoCal

Tropical Storm Rachel brings with it a slew of potential hazards, including damaging coastal flooding. The National Hurricane Center warned that Rachel could pick up some strength before arriving on the West Coast — an unusual occurrence for storms in the tropical eastern Pacific. Typically, storms weaken significantly once they enter those cooler waters. But El Niño conditions and an ongoing marine heat wave have pushed ocean temperatures 10 to 13 degrees higher than normal, providing a far-more-conducive environment for Rachel. “It’s notable that this is an unusual event that’s being made possible by both coincidence of this early arriving low-pressure trough off the coast of California and the record warm — and I do mean record warm — ocean temperatures off the coast of California right now,” UC Agriculture and Natural Resources climate scientist Daniel Swain said during a briefing Friday.