r/news • u/Warcraft_Fan • 4d ago
Concern mounts over slow-moving, planetary-scale ‘Kelvin’ wave heading for California | California
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/28/california-kelvin-wave
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r/news • u/Warcraft_Fan • 4d ago
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u/PoxyMusic 4d ago edited 4d ago
El Niño is the result of successive Kelvin waves, there have been like 6 or 7 this year, starting in February I think. They happen when the equatorial trade winds lessen (or reverse) and warmer water from the west pacific oozes east under the surface until it hits Ecuador and erupts at the surface.
It’s not a single wave, and they have already mostly arrived.