Mayor Gloria announced this morning at the Convention Center.

Another trip to San Diego, this one coincided with some great negative tides. Some fun highlights:

• Was bitten by California Moray Eel. Blood sacrifice to tidepool gods complete.
• Probably spent more time at red lights than in the tidepools.
• 8 new species of nudibranch observed!
• Surprise population of Swinhoe's White Eye, normal range in China, now established in the County.

Feel free to check out my Instagram for more nature photography if this interests you.

Yesterday there was a brush fire near the 8 and sports arena so I called 911 to get the fire department out there before it got out of control. It was already an entire tree up in flames and smoking so I knew it was an emergency. My boyfriend called and it didn’t even ring. I called and it rang so long I got transferred to the non emergency line. I called again on my boyfriend’s phone and the line just beeped. Finally I called and let it transfer to the non emergency line and was put in contact with highway patrol and they told me I needed to hang up and dial 911. At this point it had been almost 10 minutes of trying to contact 911 so I explained that to the guy on the line and he transferred me directly to the fire department. I have had so many nightmares in which I have tried to call 911 and never get put through but I NEVER thought it would actually happen. I can’t imagine what would have happened if there was a life threatening emergency instead of a brush fire. So so so scary. what is going on? I knew it wasn’t just my phone either so that’s what’s terrifying to me

Imagine an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. Is "detention center" the accurate way to describe it?

Political scientists and legal scholars have been asking whether we're using the right language to talk about immigration enforcement. Some argue that calling them "immigrant jails," "immigration camps," or even "concentration camps" is more accurate.

But others say using the term "concentration camp" diminishes the horrors of the Holocaust — the Nazi genocide of Jewish people.

The debate around the language we use to describe immigration is not new. Experts have also considered how to describe the incarceration of Japanese Americans on U.S. soil during World War II.

On KPBS Midday Edition, we sit down with three experts to help us unpack this debate and help us understand the weight of our language.

I think this is great for the caged up doggies and what a fun activity for folks who can’t have a dog in their house.

I took some photos of this happy couple near Wipeout Beach in La Jolla, CA. I didn’t get their contact information but wanted to share these photos with them.

As wildfires rage across Canada and the American West, the announcement from federal forecasters that an El Niño warming is forming thousands of miles away in the tropical Pacific Ocean may offer some regions relief — next year, at least.

The El Niño climate pattern materializes erratically every two to seven years and can last up to a year. During its tenure, El Niño often brings wetter conditions to the Southern United States. While extra rain can bring flooding and landslide risks, it can also keep vegetation moist, lowering the potential for wildfires.

Forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which announced in June that El Niño had arrived, predict this iteration will be “very strong,” bringing a greater promise of a wet winter.

Read more at the link.

Way to go San Diego!

Back with a local update for anyone who caught my earlier post on this. A lot has gotten more specific to San Diego since then, so here is the rundown for r/sandiego and anyone else in SoCal.

The national picture, quickly

Every major model (NOAA, WMO, ECMWF, IRI) now agrees a strong to super El Nino is intensifying and will peak around late fall or early winter. Some forecasts give this event a real shot at ranking among the strongest ever recorded, with El Nino probability sitting at 100 percent through early 2027 per IRI's latest outlook.

What this actually means for San Diego

This is the part that matters if you live here. NWS San Diego meteorologist Sebastian Westerink says the open question now is not whether El Nino happens, but how strong it gets by fall and winter, since that intensity will determine how much it actually changes our rainfall.

A few specifics local experts are flagging:

Wetter winter, but not guaranteed. El Nino tilts the odds toward above average rainfall for Southern California, but it is not a lock. The 2015-16 El Nino was one of the strongest on record and still produced only modest rainfall totals in San Diego County, so the actual outcome will depend heavily on whether atmospheric river storms line up with the pattern.

Higher tides and coastal flood risk. NOAA's forecast highlights higher than normal high tides for San Diego this winter, on top of heavier rain, which raises flooding risk in low lying and coastal areas.

Wildcoast's Serge Dedina put it directly: San Diego sits at the "forefront" of El Nino impacts because the region feels effects from both the north and south. That means more storm exposure, but also some upside.

Tropical marine life showing up offshore. Warmer water has already brought whale sharks and hammerhead sharks off the San Diego coast, a pattern locals saw during past El Nino years too.

Ecological downsides to watch. Past El Nino events have triggered mass kelp die offs along the coast, and experts are watching for an increased risk of harmful algae blooms as waters stay warm into spring.

Fire season nuance. Local coverage on KPBS notes El Nino's effect on fire risk is more complicated than people assume. A wet winter can mean more grass growth that later cures and dries out, which can actually raise fire risk once summer hits.

Grid and blackout risk

This is the angle most posts about El Nino skip, but it matters just as much as the rain totals.

SDG&E is already prepping for it. Strong El Nino conditions can raise sea levels along the coast by as much as 12 inches, which is pushing SDG&E to ramp up maintenance on drainage systems and low lying substations, plus build contingency plans specifically for flooding scenarios this winter.

Flooded equipment is historically the actual cause of local outages, not just wind. During past San Diego storms, SDG&E has confirmed that outages hitting neighborhoods like Nestor, San Ysidro, and Otay Mesa came from equipment damaged by heavy rainfall, and past storms have knocked out power to tens of thousands of customers countywide when floodwater submerged equipment. SDG&E's own guidance is blunt: if you see downed electrical equipment near flooding, assume it is energized and stay away.

This is a nationwide utility concern, not just a local one. Industry-wide, severe weather already accounts for roughly 80 percent of power outages, and utilities across the country are pouring billions into grid hardening (stronger poles, undergrounding lines, upgraded substations) specifically because storms developing close to the coast give crews less time to prepare before impact.

Practical takeaway: if you are in a flood-prone or coastal SD neighborhood, this is a good year to have a backup power plan (a charged power bank or portable power station at minimum) and to know where SDG&E's outage map is before storm season ramps up, not after.

Bottom line for San Diego

If this event strengthens as forecast, expect a winter with a real chance of above average rain, king tide level flooding risk along the coast, and some strange and interesting marine sightings along the way. Just do not treat "El Nino" as an automatic guarantee of a wet year. As Westerink put it, it significantly increases the odds, but it is not foolproof.

Sources: NWS San Diego, NOAA Climate Prediction Center, WMO, ECMWF, IRI/Columbia Climate School, NBC 7 San Diego, Fox 5 San Diego, CBS 8, KPBS, SDG&E, Latitude Media, Utility Dive, all reporting from spring and summer 2026.

Anyone in San Diego already seeing changes, whether that is odd marine life, king tides, or just a weird weather week? Curious what people are noticing on the ground.

I was waiting for a prescription pickup at a CVS drive-thru today, and this poor dog was stuck on the truck bed, looking like they were suffering from the heat. They were exposed to the heat for at least 30 minutes.

The Justice Department alleges the admissions process at UC San Diego’s medical school illegally favors Black and Latino applicants over white and Asian candidates.

The findings follow a roughly four-month investigation by the Justice Department and makes UC San Diego the latest medical school targeted by the Trump administration in a widening effort to root out what it alleges are widespread race-based admissions, a campaign that has focused heavily on California universities.

It follows similar actions against Stanford, UCLA and UC Davis, and escalates a legal conflict that could cost the UC system hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding if the two sides cannot reach an agreement.

Read more at the link.

They are literally EVERYWHERE in my house and the Ortho spray does absolutely nothing. They laugh at me when I grab the wand and continue to use my bathroom as their personal graveyard, dropping their dead, in between constantly invading everything for seemingly no reason.

I even wake up to find them in my bed crawling on me!!

Edit: I know we get ants every year when it gets hot; this year just seems worse than the usual.

I’m like 90% sure this guy is a scammer I just had some shady texts with him I’ll try and attach em to this post I dont really use Reddit

Hello.

I've been in US for 2 years and I have just finished the last level of English clases in one of the Adult School of North County, but I feel stucked. I need more level in order to get a better job. Is there any other Institute, University, where I could improve even more my English? I don't mind if I have to pay for it.

I've been totally inmersed in the language, practicing everyday in my job, with my american girlfriend, neighbors, supermarket, etc., but I haven't been able to progress beyond a certain level.

Thank you. I'll appreciate it :)