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"A storm arrived on the Central Coast Thursday energized with powerful surf, rough seas, and high winds.Thunderstorms with cloud-to-ground lightning are possible Thursday night as the cold front moves into California, KSBW meteorologist Art Jarrett said.\"We have warmer air down to the south, and we have colder air working it's way into California. The cold air will slowly but surely become more unstable, and we will see the possibility of thunderstorms working its way into the area,\" Jarrett said.FORECAST: Watch your KSBW storm forecastThe National Weather Service issued a high surf warning through Saturday. Flooding along the ocean will most likely occur Friday morning when a 5-foot high tide combines with 20-foot waves.Widespread rainfall is forecast to drench Big Sur with two inches, Santa Cruz with 0.7, Monterey with 0.5, Hollister with 0.4, the National Weather Service said.\"More rainfall (Thursday) will continue scattered showers into the afternoon, turning into thunderstorm activity late in the evening, guiding right back into heavy rain overnight into Friday,\" Jarrett said.There will be a break in the rain on Saturday before showers return Sunday.Santa Cruz County public works crews breached the Pajaro River earlier this week to prevent major flooding. The county had to get an emergency permit, because the lagoon is home to endangered species, including snowy plover, steel head trout, and red legged frog.\"We were able to get the permit because of two factors: There was already some flooding, and rain is in the forecast,\" flood control manager Bruce Laclerque said. \"Swells are expected to be 10 feet higher than they were Monday.\"Rainfall has remained light so far this winter, and El Nino is not expected to begin impacting winter storms until January.The Federal Emergency Management Agency issued an El Nino forecast and disaster preparedness report on Wednesday.\u00A0 Read the full report here.VIDEO: Volunteers needed for potential El Nino impact"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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