Earth’s oceans were warmer than any day in recorded history Friday due to a combination of long-term human-caused global warming and short-term effects of El Niño. The average sea surface temperature of 21.1 degrees Celsius, or 70 degrees Fahrenheit, breaks the old record of 21.09 degrees Celsius set many times in early 2024 during the most recent El Niño. … Record ocean heat will have cascading effects on global weather throughout the coming months. Warmer seas provide storms with more energy and moisture, which will make rainfall heavier and floods more likely in parts of the world. That may include California, as the arrangement of this El Niño is shaping up similarly to those that have soaked the state in the past.

Other weather and water forecast news:

• San Francisco Chronicle: New California maps show the likelihood of a wet El Niño winter
• FOX26 (Bakersfield, Calif.): Timing the arrival of El Niño storms to California- the August update
• Los Angeles Times: As 3 dangers converge, California’s coast faces rare winter of big waves, erosion, flooding
• Mongabay: World must look to the past to prepare for likely unprecedented El Niño
• NASA: Blog: NASA data feeds river forecasts as snow drought effects linger