Climate Impact Lab Projects 451,000 Extra Heat Deaths From El Niño
- On Wednesday, September 23, 2026, the University of Chicago's Climate Impact Lab released a study projecting 451,000 excess heat-related deaths worldwide through February 2027 from the ongoing Super El Niño.
- Researchers describe this Super El Niño as a "postcard from the future," noting it mirrors conditions climate change will deliver in 20 years and will lead to 44% more extremely hot days than a typical year.
- Developing regions face the heaviest burden, with the Sahel projected to see 66,800 additional deaths, including 31,400 in Nigeria, while Southeast Asia faces 19,400 deaths, India 15,800, and Brazil 13,300.
- Climate Impact Lab co-founder Michael Greenstone noted that "emergency actions can be taken now" to save tens of thousands of lives through heat-warning systems, cooling centers, and anticipatory financing.
- Elevated heat-related mortality may persist beyond February 2027, particularly in India and Pakistan during their summer months, requiring emergency planning to extend into mid-2027 to address prolonged seasonal heat.
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339 Articles
Climate warning: El Niño offers a glimpse of a deadlier, hotter future
This year's powerful El Nino and the record global heat it's driving, along with severe droughts, wildfires and shrinking water supplies, could lead to nearly half a million more deaths worldwide by the end of February, according to a research report released om Wednesday.
The El Niño phenomenon will cause a record heat that will kill more than 450,000 people within six months.
This figure is added to the premature deaths that, in themselves, are already counted because of the “normal increase” of the temperatures that climate change has brought, the same ones that the El Niño phenomenon is already raising to rates never seen before.
abc 7 WJLA
El Niño heat could drive 451,000 extra deaths worldwide, report warns
A new report is warning that an El Niño-driven surge in heat could prove deadly around the world.
Extreme heat associated with climate can cause up to 451 thousand additional deaths worldwide between June 2026 and February 2027. A study by the University of Chicago identifies Africa and Southeast Asia among the most vulnerable regions and calls for urgent prevention measures
El Niño could have dramatic consequences. In a new report, climatologists believe that the weather phenomenon could cause
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