We analyzed impacts of the 2014‐15 Pacific Warm Anomaly and 2015‐16 El Niño on physical and biogeochemical variables at two southern California Current System moorings (CCE2, nearshore upwelling off Point Conception; CCE1, offshore California Current). Nitrate and Chl‐a fluorescence were < 1 μM and < 1 Standardized Fluorescence Unit, respectively,