Temperatures in the Pacific Ocean are still rising as this year’s El Niño strengthens. A monthly outlook published Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center gives a 75% chance that El Niño will become “historic” from October to December. … L’Heureux explained that the timing of this precipitation will likely trail behind El Niño’s peak strength in the ocean. “The outlooks show that the strongest probabilities for increased precipitation in California are during December-March,” [Climate Prediction Center physical scientist Michelle] L’Heureux wrote. … And oceanographers are also expecting El Niño to temporarily raise sea levels and bump up winter wave energy, threatening the coastline with erosion and flooding, especially during storms. 

Other El Niño news:

• The Washington Post: How El Niño could bring punishing conditions to the West Coast this winter
• Fast Company: Historically strong 2026 Super El Niño could have this devastating effect on California
• KBAK (Bakersfield, Calif.): Kern County farmers ready fields and ditches as El Niño winter threat grows
• Los Angeles Times: ‘The whole beach is gone’: Big waves, flooding bring destruction to SoCal coast. It’s a warning
• San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Never seen something like this’: Huge waves from hurricane blast Southern California beaches
• The New York Times: Heard about the super Godzilla Monster El Niño? Here’s how it could actually affect you
• ABC10 (Sacramento, Calif.): Video: What a historic El Niño could mean for California
• Maven’s Notebook: Blog: Planning for tomorrow’s water today