Super El Niño strengthens with record heat risks raising into 2027
Scientists warn El Niño is still intensifying and could continue into next year
The World Meteorological Organization reportedly said in its monthly climate bulletin that this year’s El Niño will intensify before peaking in December and is nearly 100% bound to persist until February 2027 with marine surface temperatures projected to shatter historical highs.
WMO Secretary General Celeste Saulo said in a statement: “WMO forecasts indicate a near-100% likelihood that (El Niño) will persist through February 2027, potentially being one of the strongest since at least 1950.”
The UN weather body asserted that sea temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific were anticipated to reach a record 3.7 degrees Celsius above normal from October to December. It further said that the forecast temperature anomaly shattered the previous record of 2.6C from November 2015 to January 2016.
El Nino is the naturally occurring El Niño- Southern Oscillation cycle that influences atmospheric pressure systems. It tends to cause higher temperatures and cause climate disruption across large regions and commonly occurs every two to seven years. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, global temperatures in August reached 16.96C making it the hottest month on record.
Furthermore, researchers at the University of Chicago’s Climate Impact Lab predicted last month that this year’s super- El Niño was likely due to result in as many as 451,000 excess deaths across the planet from June to February 2027.
