… [S]omething unusual is sliding up the west coast of Mexico right now, and it is aimed squarely at California. A mass of warm, elevated ocean water hundreds of miles long is moving north at roughly 6 mph — about the pace of a jogger — and currently less than 350 miles from Southern California’s beaches. … For Sacramento and the Delta region, the connection is closer than it looks on a map. The Delta is tidal, and in early fall — when river flows are near an annual low — the ocean’s twice-daily pulse reaches all the way up the Sacramento River to downtown. A higher ocean at the Golden Gate Bridge also translates into a smaller but measurable lift in water levels through the Delta’s leveed margins upstream. It also shifts the balance in the ongoing tug-of-war between river outflow and salty bay water pushing inland.

Other El Niño news:

• KCRA (Sacramento, Calif.): El Niño just leveled up to super status. Here’s what that means for the weather
• The Union Democrat (Sonora, Calif.): Powerful El Niño could bring wetter season to Mother Lode
• The San Diego Union-Tribune: Crews begin making berms on S.D.’s beaches to prepare for El Niño
• North Coast Current (Encinitas, Calif.): Del Mar readies for flooding, erosion as El Niño builds
• Los Angeles Times: ‘Pretty epic’ Kelvin wave is latest threat to SoCal coastal cities. When will it get here?
• KOAT (Albuquerque, N.M.): New Mexico farmers look to rain and El Niño for relief after dry season