California isn’t a place most Americans associate with tropical weather, but it’s taking a beating in 2026 from one of the most active eastern Pacific hurricane seasons in modern history.

For the second time ever, national forecasters issued a tropical storm watch for Southern California as Tropical Storm Rachel headed toward the region, bringing high tides, coastal flooding and drenching rain from Oct. 9-11. The first tropical storm watch was issued just three years earlier, for Hurricane Hilary.

The U.S. occasionally sees heavy rain from the remnants of Pacific storms that pass over Mexico and travel into the U.S. Southwest. But the 2026 season has been different. Three hurricanes deluged Hawaii as they passed close to the islands, a rare event for that state. And in September, Hurricane Marie churned up big waves that damaged oceanfront homes near Los Angeles before veering away from the coast.

Rachel weakened to an extratropical cyclone before its landfall in Baja California, but it brought high waves to Southern California that damaged more coastal homes and flooded streets. Its rainfall drenched communities from San Diego to the desert Southwest and even triggered flooding in Las Vegas.

I study Pacific hurricanes. While tropical storm impacts to California are unusual, they aren’t unprecedented. El Niño raises the........

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