El Nino to be 'biggest for over a century': UK Met Office

The UK Met Office has forecast that this year's El Nino weather pattern will be the most intense in over a century, with sea surface temperatures reaching unprecedented levels. An El Nino is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5C above the average baseline, leading to global changes in winds, atmospheric pressure, and rainfall patterns.

Adam Scaife, the head of long-range forecasting at the Met Office, stated to the BBC that they are anticipating the biggest El Nino in over a century, with temperatures peaking over three degrees, which is unheard of in modern climate records. He called it an "unprecedented event" and added that he has never observed an El Nino signal this intense in his forecasts.

The anomalous warmth, already up to nearly two degrees, will have particularly significant effects in the Tropics, where the Met Office predicts severe droughts in South America and the West Pacific. Current temperatures in the region are running about 2.6C above average.