--- title: California Just Declared a State of Emergency Due to El Niño. Here's What to Know description: Governor Gavin Newsom is preparing California ahead of a super El Niño that could bring extreme weather to the state this winter. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/09/23/california-state-of-emergency-el-nino/ author: Simmone Shah article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-09-23T13:21:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-09-24T15:41:48.002Z article:section: Climate og:title: Why California Just Declared a State of Emergency Due to El Niño og:description: A super El Niño could bring extreme weather to the state this winter. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/09/23/california-state-of-emergency-el-nino/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69b0d00023c30233/6ab2e693a727e9852aba7473/ca-emergenct.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: ca-emergenct.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why California Just Declared a State of Emergency Due to El Niño twitter:description: A super El Niño could bring extreme weather to the state this winter. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69b0d00023c30233/6ab2e693a727e9852aba7473/ca-emergenct.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why California Just Declared a State of Emergency Due to El Niño > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=282ed434-5c73-4f45-a9cc-a5a281d87ed4&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Scientists Warn 'Super El Niño' Expected To Be Strongest on Record [Watch (HLS stream): Scientists Warn 'Super El Niño' Expected To Be Strongest on Record](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0XXRJn7J.m3u8) (3:28)  _Published 2026-09-24. A super El Niño could bring extreme weather to the state this winter._  by [Simmone Shah](https://time.com/author/simmone-shah/)  ## Simmone Shah Reporter Sep 23, 2026 1:21 PM UTC  by [Simmone Shah](https://time.com/author/simmone-shah/)  ## Simmone Shah Reporter Sep 23, 2026 1:21 PM UTC California’s governor [Gavin Newsom](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/gavin-newsom/) has declared a state of emergency ahead of a potentially [historic El Niño](https://time.com/article/2026/04/10/super-el-nino-2026-what-to-know/). In a statement [released](https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/21/governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-to-bolster-statewide-el-nino-preparedness-protect-california/) Sept. 22, Newsom said the declaration is meant to ensure communities have the resources they need to handle the impacts [expected this winter.](https://time.com/article/2026/09/11/el-nino-fall-winter-weather-us/) “California is strongest when we look out for one another. That is what this action is about,” Newsom said. “Giving communities the support they need, giving first responders the tools to do their jobs, and giving families the confidence that their state is ready.” **Read more:** [_How Should You Prepare For A Super El Niño?_](https://time.com/article/2026/08/31/how-to-prepare-super-el-nino/) The state of emergency allows the government to mobilize state resources: readying flood-fighting supplies such as sandbags and pumps, preparing the National Guard to assist with flood response and search and rescue efforts, and fortifying roads and infrastructure. State environmental and natural resources agencies will also fast-track permitting and engage in other efforts to better prepare for flooding and landslides. ## How will El Niño impact California? El Niño typically brings wetter, more intense winters to California—which could leave the state more vulnerable to severe winter storms, heavy rainfall, landslides, and flooding. An El Niño year does not guarantee that these conditions will occur, but it does increase the likelihood. Climate change is also supercharging weather events, and El Niño is no exception. One [study](https://news.umich.edu/el-ninos-more-intense-over-last-40-years-than-previous-1000-according-to-u-m-study/) published in August found that El Niño events are now nearly 40% stronger than before the Industrial era. This year’s El Niño is predicted to be the strongest in recorded history. ## What impacts has California already felt from this year's El Niño? The governor’s office noted that the state has already experienced coastal flooding attributable to El Niño. The state can expect to see [Kelvin waves](https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/southern-california-el-nino-kelvin-wave-phenomenon/), slow moving pulses of water that can stretch thousands of miles and raise sea levels along the coastline—increasing the risk for coastal flooding and erosion, and offshore Pacific hurricanes. Climate scientists also [warn](https://www.npr.org/2026/07/14/nx-s1-5884076/why-a-growing-mass-of-warm-water-in-the-pacific-could-be-trouble-for-future-weather) that the Pacific can expect to see a temporary 6-inch to 2-ft. rise in sea levels this winter. A number of southern California towns, [including](https://abcnews.com/US/stressful-winter-el-nino-fueled-coastal-erosion-california/story?id=136537040) Malibu, Laguna Beach, and Long Beach, have already seen significant coastal erosion due to El Niño and Pacific hurricanes this year. ## How can Californians prepare for El Niño? The state has urged residents to take action to prepare for El Niño by signing up for emergency alerts and learning their flood risk, and having an evacuation plan and emergency kit at the ready. It’s all part of an effort to ensure that the state is not caught off guard by El Niño. “We are not waiting for this season’s storms to be on our doorstep,” Cal OES director Caroline Thomas Jacobs said in a statement. “By planning early and coordinating resources ahead of El Niño, we are working to ensure communities and first responders have the personnel, equipment, and support they need to prepare for severe weather, respond quickly when conditions change, and protect lives and property across California.” ## Transcript The current El Nino that we're seeing develop now is among the very strongest that we've ever seen for this time of year. It actually is the strongest that we have on record. There's now a 90% chance that the current El Nino will intensify to a very strong event towards the end of the year. There's also now a very high chance, 69% as of last week, that this El Nino will be the strongest on record since 1950. We know that El Nino supercharges global warming and is likely to add a little bit of warming to the warming that we've already seen. What our data show is that perhaps global warming also supercharges El Nino. The fact that August 2026 has, um, uh, matched the the hottest months ever observed means that the climate system, our climate system is really operating well outside the range we would have expected just a decade ago. A useful way to think about climate change and proportional, uh, heat content is that our changing climate through human activities is loading the dice, and El Nino influences the outcome of an individual role, or perhaps gives you an additional roll of the dice. The record ocean temperatures that we see right now are a combination of background level of warming. So the ocean in general has warmed about 0.8°C from human induced climate change. And then we've got this boost from the El Nino event. When we have a warmer ocean, such as we've had in Europe this summer. It amplifies the impacts of heat waves because A you don't get the the cooler night time temperatures with the sea breeze coming off the ocean. When the ocean is very warm. As the atmosphere warms, it holds more water vapor. And that water vapor can come out of the atmosphere when conditions are right in intense rainfall. So we get more rainfall out of a particular rainstorm. That intensification of precipitation is happening all around the world right now. But if we think about El Nino impacts where El Nino would produce a flood, now, it would produce an even bigger flood. One. We're seeing things like tropical storms striking Hawaii. Normally, tropical storms don't get as far north as Hawaii, but because the Pacific is so warm, those storms can form over that very warm water. We're seeing very dry conditions in India, where the monsoon is among the driest of the last 20 years. Indonesia, for example, over a quarter million acres of land have burned. That's created tremendous air quality problems with heavy smoke that is now blowing over adjacent countries as well. Between Malaysia and Indonesia, they produce 85% of the global palm oil supply. So definitely there will be impacts on global trade. Whatever happens to agriculture really determines whether people stay below or just slightly above the poverty line. The intensification of El Nino closely parallels warming. We know what's causing that warming. It's the human consumption of fossil fuels. And so this gives us one more nudge as if we needed it. But I think we do to move our energy system towards renewables and away from fossil fuels. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/23/california-state-of-emergency-el-nino/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/23/california-state-of-emergency-el-nino/"},"headline":"Why California Just Declared a State of Emergency Due to El Niño","datePublished":"2026-09-23T13:21:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-09-24T15:41:48.002Z","description":"A super El Niño could bring extreme weather to the state this winter.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/23/california-state-of-emergency-el-nino/","keywords":["extreme weather","El Nino"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69b0d00023c30233/6ab2e693a727e9852aba7473/ca-emergenct.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Simmone Shah","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/simmone-shah/"}],"articleSection":"Climate","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69b0d00023c30233/6ab2e693a727e9852aba7473/ca-emergenct.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ca-emergenct.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/climate/","name":"Climate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/extreme-weather/","name":"extreme weather"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/23/california-state-of-emergency-el-nino/","name":"Why California Just Declared a State of Emergency Due to El Niño"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Scientists Warn 'Super El Niño' Expected To Be Strongest on Record","description":"A super El Niño could bring extreme weather to the state this winter.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0XXRJn7J/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-09-24T15:01:49.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0XXRJn7J.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/23/california-state-of-emergency-el-nino/","duration":"PT3M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/23/california-state-of-emergency-el-nino/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```