Reported by Voice of San Diego
Twenty-eight years ago, Saturday Night Live cut to “satellite imagery” of the tropical storm threatening the Pacific Coastline: It was Chris Farley dressed as a pro wrestler named El Niño.
The 1997 El Niño threatened to bring Southern California one of its worst winters in history, according to a Los Angeles Times article published days before the SNL sketch.
El Niño, and its sister phase called La Niña, is basically a big switch in the conditions of the ocean and the atmosphere around the tropical Pacific Ocean with global weather implications. And everybody is really worried about it right now, again.
Weatherman/Mayor Todd Gloria filmed multiple social media videos in Mission Beach ahead of Hurricane Rachel highlighting potential flooding and the city’s preparations.
This El Niño is predicted to be the strongest on record. The city of San Diego, the county and the state of California have all declared emergencies ahead of the potentially severe weather El Niño can bring. At its core, El Niño is a redistribution of ocean heat energy that swings either eastward or westward.
