Southern California’s coastline has been getting absolutely pulverized lately, thanks to a handful of El Niño-related factors. Historic high tides. Massive erosion. Roads cracking. Multimillion-dollar mansions threatened by the encroaching Pacific.
But down in La Jolla, something completely different is happening.
The ocean has turned into a gigantic swimming pool. See here and below.
Recent videos circulating on social media show extraordinarily clear, turquoise water along the San Diego coastline. It’s so ridiculously pristine that more than a few commenters have questioned whether the footage was AI-generated.
It’s not.
And according to local diver and ocean observer Nautical Nick, conditions have been downright historic.
“60 feet of visibility at La Jolla Shores today,” he wrote in an October Instagram post. “13 years of diving in San Diego and this is the clearest water I have ever seen here.”
He characterized the exceptional visibility as “like a once per decade event.”
Another mesmerizing clip from Black’s Beach, one of Southern California’s most famous surf spots, shows crystal-clear water resembling the Maldives, complete with a rainbow stretching across the horizon. Not exactly your typical November scene.
Check out that dreamscape scenario, linked here, and below.
So what’s happening?
Interestingly, the same powerful El Niño conditions contributing to coastal destruction may also be helping create this tropical-looking spectacle.
Nautical Nick pointed to warmer, nutrient-poor water containing relatively little plankton, combined with several days of offshore Santa Ana winds that helped smooth the ocean’s surface.
“The last piece is luck of geography,” he explained, noting that Point La Jolla sheltered the area from a south swell stirring up sediment elsewhere.
Related: Watch: Seawall Collapses at Iconic SoCal Hotel Amid Massive Surf
NOAA confirms that El Niño-driven Kelvin waves can suppress the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water, reducing phytoplankton growth. However, the remarkable clarity depends on several local factors, not El Niño alone.
Meanwhile, NOAA just confirmed record-high coastal water levels throughout Southern California, including La Jolla, where the ocean reached its highest observed level in more than a century.
Apparently, there’s another side to this potentially historic El Niño.
One moment, the Pacific is threatening to swallow the coastline. The next, it’s looking like a tropical paradise. And we’re only just getting started.
Related: Historic 100-Year Ocean Levels Threaten Iconic Stretch of California’s PCH (Video)
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