{"id":550389,"date":"2026-03-28T12:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/550389\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T12:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:20:21","slug":"ocean-heatwave-is-great-for-socal-surfers-and-fishing-fans-but-not-for-some-sea-creatures-or-the-weather-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/550389\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocean heatwave is great for SoCal surfers and fishing fans \u2014 but not for some sea creatures, or the weather \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doug Hibbard noticed something odd for this time of year at San Onofre State Beach: A surfer riding waves without a winter wetsuit, instead sporting just swim trunks.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally? In March?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Laguna Niguel surfer who has been catching waves for nearly six decades wasn\u2019t totally surprised; he, too, has noticed this winter that the water feels more like a lukewarm bath than the toe-numbing, frigid cold plunge typical for this time of year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water never got cold,\u201d Hibbard, 69, said of this winter season. \u201cI don\u2019t think it ever dropped below 60.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marine scientists, researchers and the fishing community are also buzzing about yet another marine heatwave<\/a> some are saying could rival \u201cThe Blob\u201d from a decade ago that had big impacts on the coast.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Surfers<\/p>\n

Surfers glide across the waves at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point on Thursday, March 19, 2026. The unusually warm water is not typical for this time of year. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Malachi,<\/p>\n

Malachi, Livia, Micah and Luke Carlson, from left, come out of the water after surfing at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, CA on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Visitors<\/p>\n

Visitors cool off in the ocean near the Santa Monica Pier in March, 2026. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Sandbags<\/p>\n

Sandbags help shore up the bike path at Capistrano Beach in Dana Point, CA on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A man walks his dog at Ventura Beach in Ventura in April, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A surfer heads to the waves at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, CA on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Cody<\/p>\n

Cody and Lily Kim use a float in the waves at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, CA on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Poeple<\/p>\n

Poeple use the beach at Capistrano Beach in Dana Point, CA on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Kids<\/p>\n

Kids play in the waves at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, CA on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A surfer heads to the waves at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, CA on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 10<\/p>\n

Surfers glide across the waves at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point on Thursday, March 19, 2026. The unusually warm water is not typical for this time of year. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

And it could turn out there is a double whammy of weather phenomena in 2026, as forecasters are calling for a likely El Ni\u00f1o later in the year \u2014 news headlines touting it as a \u201cGodzilla\u201d or \u201cSuper\u201d El Ni\u00f1o year<\/a> \u2014and that could also bring out-of-the-ordinary weather conditions, including a wet and wild winter for Southern California.<\/p>\n

Such anomalies bring both excitement and concern about what could happen if both occur with strength: big swells to thrill surfers and rarely seen sea creatures to fish, but also storm surges that could ravage shorelines and lasting impacts on the local ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Forecasting, however, can be tricky, with conditions and weather that can shift as swiftly as a changing wind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have forecast tools that provide some insight,\u201d said Andrew Leising, a research oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s Southwest Fisheries Science Center based in Long Beach. \u201cBut we are also watching carefully for implications on the marine ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Repeat of \u2018The Blob?\u2019<\/p>\n

A marine heatwave has kept the ocean warmer than usual since last summer, with heat maps showing readings that rival \u201cThe Blob\u201d that started being tracked in fall 2013<\/a> in Alaska and swelled all the way to Mexico by late 2015.<\/p>\n

That was the first recorded big, unprecedented marine heatwave to cover most of the North Pacific, Leising said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Blob\u201d refers to that specific event, named by a scientist whose catchy term caught on in news headlines about the unusual warm-water event.<\/p>\n

An El Ni\u00f1o also developed in 2016, keeping waters unusually warm. Another marine heatwave in 2019 was dubbed \u201cBlob 2.0.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, some are saying the ocean is experiencing \u201cBlob 3.0,\u201d marking only the third time on record that such a large section of the coastal ocean has remained so warm,<\/a> for so long into winter months, without it being an El Ni\u00f1o, according to NOAA.<\/p>\n

It was an interesting few years across Southern California\u2019s coastline when the first marine heatwave and an El Ni\u00f1o combined a decade ago, shifting species to areas they are normally not found, causing die-offs and other disruptions of ecosystems.<\/p>\n

Millions of dead red crabs, normally found further south, washed up on local shores<\/a>, making a stinky mess. Exotic species such as whale sharks, hammerhead sharks and bluefin tuna were seen by boaters and anglers who marveled at the sea creatures more common in tropical waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing, I went out and caught a wahoo. I caught hundreds of tuna. We couldn\u2019t find enough boats to charter,\u201d said longtime boat captain Todd Mansur. \u201cEvery boat that was available was booked. We were going 2 to 3 miles offshore and catching an unlimited amount of different fish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were getting tuna every day,\u201d he added. \u201cYou could blindfold yourself and catch tuna.\u201d<\/p>\n

The warmth in shallow waters also drew an aggregation of great white shark juveniles \u2014 dominating headlines as they hung out for months off Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Long Beach and the South Bay.<\/p>\n

Their presence prompted nervousness among beachgoers and surfers sharing the water, but marveled researchers who were perplexed by the abnormally longer stay close to shore.<\/a> Historically, after being born, the great whites would leave the area for warmer waters elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The current marine heatwave has raised the temperature of waters along the West Coast roughly 3 to 4 degrees above normal. In September, the northeast Pacific reached its highest average temperature of 69 degrees, half a degree warmer than ever before, according to NOAA.<\/p>\n

This month, water temps were in the mid-to-upper 60s, at a time when the thermometer typically dips to the 50s.<\/p>\n

An El Ni\u00f1o creates a much narrower band of warm water, Leising explained, bringing species such as tropical sea snakes or red crabs up the coast.\u00a0 The Blob, on the other hand, pulled species from further offshore, such as bluefin tuna or whale sharks, closer to shore.<\/a><\/p>\n

Already, there have been signs of species in unusual areas, such as tuna caught in large numbers near Alaska last fall and just a few weeks ago off Monterey, regions where they are not normally found.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know these marine heatwaves alter ecosystem conditions, which affects fish and other marine life,\u201d Leising said. \u201cWe\u2019re very interested in what the fishing fleet and others who are out on the water are seeing and are looking into new ways to collect this information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mansur, also a board member of the Coastal Conservation Association, said the warm-water conditions and El Ni\u00f1o forecasts are the buzz at all the angler tradeshows, meetings and on the charter boats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where a lot of people look forward to an El Ni\u00f1o or ocean heatwave, because it\u2019s an opportunity to bring tropical species \u2014 yellowfin, mahi mahi, even wahoo \u2014 off local waters,\u201d Mansur said. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting for the fishing community, because when they think of El Ni\u00f1o, they think exotic fish.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a downside, he acknowledged.<\/p>\n

\"SomeSome of the kelp takes on a golden beauty while back-lit in the morning sun off Laguna Beach in 2013. Ocean seaweed, or kelp, is very vulnerable to warm water and invasive species that thrive in those conditions take over. (Photo by MICHAEL GOULDING,ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Salmon fisheries struggle because the fish have trouble reproducing and making it back into rivers. Ocean seaweed, or kelp, is also very vulnerable to warm water and invasive species that thrive in those conditions take over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a give and take,\u201d Mansur said. \u201cWe get tropical fish, but it harms our ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marine biologists and researchers are keeping a close eye on harmful algae blooms that thrive in warm water \u2014 extended blooms last year produced toxins that sickened and killed thousands of sea lions, birds and dolphins.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something to worry about,\u201d Leising said.<\/p>\n

Nancy Caruso, who has studied and replanted kelp off the coast with her nonprofit Get Inspired, said in recent kelp surveys, she\u2019s only seen about 100th of what she normally sees, the warm water likely impacting the reproduction of the sea forest.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, the reefs are covered in thousands of baby kelps,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll see how it plays out. We don\u2019t see the babies, but hopefully the adult kelp will be able to withstand and make it through the summer \u2014 if it doesn\u2019t get really warm like it\u2019s projected.\u201d<\/p>\n

A decade ago, the warm ocean was a \u201cdisaster,\u201d with 600 miles of kelp forests destroyed, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still recovering from that,\u201d she said. \u201cIt definitely affects the blooms of algae, the larval fish that don\u2019t have anything to eat, and affects the sea life and the whales. It makes its way up the food chain, but we don\u2019t see the effects of it for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The marine heatwaves have huge repercussions on the ecosystem, the impacts sometimes not seen for years later, she said.<\/p>\n

This latest Blob-like event is looking comparable to the one about a decade ago, but it\u2019s not yet as hot or deep, Mansur said, and could be vulnerable to cold water upwelling and dissipating through spring.<\/p>\n

Or, it could stick around for years and rival \u201cThe Blob.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HuntingtonHuntington Beach Pier and its End Cafe are destroyed by El Nino\u2019s huge waves in 1983. Warm water could bring exotic sea life, but also kill kelp, and more frequent storms could spell trouble for the region. (Photo by H. Lorren Au Jr., Orange County Register\/SCNG)
\nDouble whammy<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o events are natural climate patterns that tend to occur every two to seven years and can have impacts across the globe. On the West Coast, it typically means drier, warmer weather for Northern California and wetter conditions for the southern region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get all the rain we want, but it falls in our southern parts where we don\u2019t have ways to trap and use it,\u201d Mansur said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard on everything on the coastline when we have that kind of rainfall.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has been around long enough to remember the 1983-84 El Ni\u00f1o that destroyed the San Clemente Pier. That same storm severely damaged the Huntington Beach Pier.<\/a><\/p>\n

Leising remembers the big El Ni\u00f1o in the \u201990s when the windows of a restaurant on a pier in San Diego were shattered by the raging sea. Strong storms flooded streets and overwhelmed infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the last really, really big one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Clemente redesigned and rebuilt its pier after El Ni\u00f1o storm surf knocked much of it down in1983. In another El Ni\u00f1o year, 1988, the pier took some major hits but survived. (Photo by FRED SWEGLES, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

The El Ni\u00f1o in 2016 was sizable, but not the largest, and then in 2023-24, a moderate El Ni\u00f1o fueled storms and significant rainfall.<\/p>\n

A European forecast model is saying the upcoming El Ni\u00f1o could be a strong one<\/a>. Most models are calling for a 60% chance of an El Ni\u00f1o year. Some headlines are dubbing it a \u201cSuper El Ni\u00f1o.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not 100%, it\u2019s a little far away for us to predict,\u201d Leising said, noting another assessment will likely be out in April.<\/p>\n

Warm water also has impacts on the coastal landscape. When ocean water warms, it \u201cexpands,\u201d Leising explained. When combined with mega high tides and big swells, waves may batter beaches, causing severe erosion.<\/a><\/p>\n

Doheny State Beach and Capistrano Beach are among stretches that saw severe loss of sand around 2016, and it\u2019s still unknown if the beaches will ever recover. That was also about the time when Cottons Beach in south San Clemente saw its shore disappear.<\/p>\n

Hurricane activity can also ramp up, Mansur said.\u00a0 The most notable, as ocean temperatures rose in 2014, was Hurricane Marie, which brought massive waves that added to the fun for surfers, but chomped away at the coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do have very warm water, we\u2019re going to see a lot of storm activity in Mexico and Baja,\u201d Mansur said. \u201cThere\u2019s a chance we see storms creep up Southern California and threaten the coast with rain, moisture, wind and waves, big surf.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Doug Hibbard noticed something odd for this time of year at San Onofre State Beach: A surfer riding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[17756,2356,192,47189,983,13488,13489,36829,3,6011,130276,79,10843,452,2986],"class_list":["post-550389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-beaches","tag-california","tag-environment","tag-huntington-beach","tag-local-news","tag-long-beach","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-newport-beach","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-san-clemente","tag-science","tag-south-bay","tag-top-stories","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}