‘Off the charts’ El Nino threatens heat, drought and floods into 2027
dpaGeneva The world should brace for extreme heat, droughts and flooding in some regions in the coming months as an exceptionally strong El Niño develops, the World Meteorological...
An unusually powerful El Niño is set to bring extreme heat, droughts and flooding to certain parts of the globe, warns the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), according to reports. Ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific, which play a crucial role in global weather patterns, are currently at record levels, the Geneva-based UN agency reports.
WMO Secretary General Celeste Saulo stated that, should this trend persist, the El Niño could surpass anything seen since monitoring began four decades ago, describing it as "off the charts." The peak of the El Niño is expected around the start of the new year, and some areas may already be witnessing severe droughts and heavy rainfall, Saulo said.
However, the WMO stresses that the heatwaves experienced in Europe this summer were not due to El Niño. UN Secretary General António Guterres highlighted the severity of the situation, stating in a statement that "El Niño is being supersized before our eyes." The science, he said, leaves no doubt that "the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up."
El Niño is characterized by a warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. According to the WMO, these temperatures are already 2.2 to 2.6 degrees Celsius above the long-term average.
Written by urgent.news from Qatar Tribune's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
