A rare third year of La Niña is on deck for California, forecasters say
Rising sea level in the South Bay has forced officials Wednesday to close a popular beach on the peninsula.
The county’s beaches are closed as high tide approaches, which has been projected to happen sometime Thursday or Friday.
But the beach closure doesn’t mean the end of summer fun for the area’s residents and visitors.
That’s because the rising sea will put more sand on the beaches, giving people more time to enjoy them and less time to get sand into their tires.
“This is a great time of year for the beaches in our county,” said Mary Beth Peebles, manager of the South Bay Regional Park District. “It’s a wonderful day to be at the beach.”
Rising sea level in the South Bay has forced officials Wednesday to close a popular beach on the peninsula. The beach is only a few steps from an active volcano, which has raised the risk of mudslides and other disasters.
The county’s beach — popular with locals and visitors alike — is closed because of a predicted high tide that will arrive sometime Thursday or Friday.
The beach is only a few steps from an active volcano, which has raised the risk of mudslides and other disasters.
“There’s so many variables in this,” Peebles said. “I don’t like to say it this way, but things are going to be changing dramatically.”
The rising sea level that Peebles mentioned is actually a combination of two factors: the effects of the sea on top of La Niña, and the effects of La Niña on top of the sea.
This means that a combination of La Niña effects and rising sea level — one on top of the other — is responsible for the rising sea level that threatens beaches across the South Bay.
But before we answer that question, let’s start with the ocean’s basic properties.
First,