US EditionEl Nino may return this year and make planet hotter, US agency warns
NOAA estimates a 50-60% likelihood of El Nino in July-September 2026, which may raise global temperatures by 0.1C-0.2C, tracked using a new real-time index.
- There is a 50- to 60-per cent chance of El Nino developing in the July–September period and beyond, NOAA warned, potentially pushing global temperatures to record heights later this year.
- NOAA in February adopted the Relative Oceanic Nino Index because warming oceans make the old ONI 30-year baseline out of date, calling RONI a 'clearer, more reliable way' to track ENSO.
- El Nino forms when warming in the central and eastern tropical Pacific and weakening trade winds alter rainfall and wind patterns across the tropics, affecting regions like southeast Asia and the southern United States.
- The World Meteorological Organisation will issue an update on El Nino on Tuesday after the 2023–24 El Nino helped make 2024 the hottest year and 2025 the third-hottest.
- Carlo Buontempo, director of the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, said 2026 could be 'another record-breaking year' if El Nino appears this year, and Nat Johnson, NOAA meteorologist, noted El Nino typically raises global temperatures by 0.1C-0.2C and recurs every two to seven years.
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Predictions indicate that weather conditions will change dramatically from March to April
El Niño weather event may return later this year – UN
GENEVA, Switzerland — The warming El Niño weather phenomenon could return later this year as its cooling opposite, La Niña, fades away, the United Nations said Tuesday.The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the recent, weak La Niña was expected to give way to neutral conditions, which could then swing into El Niño before the end of 2026.La Niña is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that cools surface temperatures in the cent…
In 2023 and 2024, the last El Niño phase to date leads to the hottest years ever measured on our planet. Since then, the climate phenomenon, which has its name from South American fishermen, is taking a break. But this could soon be over.
After a relatively short La Niña phase, the Pacific climate system enters a period of uncertainty. The models suggest a possible shift in the coming months. In a world already marked by record heat, this natural change could weigh much more than before. How the Pacific influences the climate of the whole planet The global climate depends in part on a vast ocean-atmosphere mechanism called ENSO, for El Niño-Southern Oscillation. This natural cycl…
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