Stormy weather that has been battering the Pacific Northwest and southwest Canada is expected to spread into California in the coming days, bringing the region’s first major dose of winter rains. The storms are arriving amid dire forecasts that this year’s El Niño, the climate pattern that scrambles and intensifies weather around the globe but especially in California, is one of the strongest on record. … The first storm, which is likely to be the stronger of the two, was expected to bring rain to far Northern California as early as Thursday night and gradually spread south through Saturday. The second will sweep the state Sunday into Monday, forecasters said. California’s North Coast is likely to record the most rain in these storms, with over five inches possible. … Several inches of snow is expected in the Sierra Nevada. 

Other El Niño news:

• SFGate: What the new ‘astonishing’ El Niño forecast means for California
• SJV Water (Bakersfield, Calif.): Agencies gearing up for El Niño in Kings County following 2023 flood lessons
• San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Power could be off’: PG&E’s warning for Californians this El Niño winter
• KQED (San Francisco, Calif.): El Niño in the Bay Area: What you need to know
• CBS8 (San Diego): How El Niño could impact the Tijuana sewage crisis
• Politico: A storm is brewing for Becerra’s first budget
• Bay Nature (Berkeley, Calif.): El Niño, from nature’s POV
• The New York Times: A concerned Californian’s guide to El Niño
• Weather West: Blog: Sudden shift to active, stormy pattern in California during second half of November; extreme El Niño plus climate change now causing record-shattering near-coastal ocean warmth