A strengthening El Niño could bring the highest sea levels ever recorded to the California coast this year, raising the risk of widespread and damaging flooding. It’s the latest effect forecast for what’s expected to be an historically strong event, one forecasters warn could also lash Southern California with powerful rain and broil both land and sea with punishing heat waves. … Sea level rise is expected to increase in all sorts of areas, from the San Francisco Bay to San Diego, Merrifield said, and impact the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. … The strength of this El Niño “is going to significantly shift the odds in favor of a particularly wet winter, especially in Southern California. But for an event this big, probably Northern California as well,” [UC climate scientist Daniel] Swain said.

Other El Niño news:

• Los Angeles Magazine: California braces for worst and wettest El Niño on record
• The Guardian: ‘Super El Niño’ could bring wet winter and flooding to western US, climate scientists warn
• Times-Standard (Eureka, Calif.): Commentary: Here comes El Niño