The United Nations (UN) has warned that a new phase of the natural El Niño weather pattern, which will further increase temperatures on a planet already under pressure due to climate change, could begin in a few weeks.
elchi reports that the World Meteorological Organization has stated that this El Niño will intensify throughout the remainder of 2026 and cause more extreme weather events globally.
Forecasts from national weather agencies indicate that this process will turn into one of the strongest El Niño events in history, a “super” El Niño.
Rising Pacific Ocean temperatures
Although it is difficult to predict the exact timing and strength of El Niño, scientists are monitoring central Pacific Ocean habit patterns for clues.
Last December, water temperatures that were below average changed three months later, and as very warm waters emerged off the coast of South America, the central Pacific Ocean warmed up.
By April, it was clear that El Niño was approaching, and water temperatures in the main monitoring area have continued to rise since then.
El Niño occurs when changes in wind patterns allow warm waters to spread across the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Professor Adam Scaife, head of the Monthly and Decadal Prediction department at the UK Met Office, stated that they are extremely confident that a major natural event is approaching and that it could be a record-breaker.
Sea surface temperatures in the Pacific monitoring region fluctuate naturally. When temperatures deviate by more than half a degree from the average over a long period, El Niño or its colder sibling, La Niña, conditions occur.
A warming of more than two degrees is called a “very strong” or “super” El Niño. Since 1950, such events have occurred only a few times. Forecasts show that this new El Niño will equal or even exceed past peaks.
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