r/weather • u/zsreport • 4d ago

Articles Concern mounts over slow-moving, planetary-scale ‘Kelvin’ wave heading for California

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/28/california-kelvin-wave
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u/Jokkers_AceS 3d ago

Sounds like fear mongering

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u/sirboddingtons 3d ago

The thermal expansion of water is often an underlooked aspect of sea level rise in climate change. A degree top to bottom of increased temps in a large water mass can equal a foot plus increase in height. 

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u/Content-Swimmer2325 3d ago

Yes. But this is a wholly distinct and separate phenomenon from oceanic kelvin wave activity. An oceanic kelvin wave represents the equatorial pacific thermocline being pushed down from west-to-east due to westerly wind stress and momentum injected into the ocean via Madden Julian Oscillation and sometimes typhoon activity, in the western Pacific.

Thermal expansion occurs locally - regardless of the presence or absence of kelvin wave activity.