El Niño 2026

[Jitendra Hydonus]

🚨 Earth’s most dangerous climate cycle has officially started.

New 2026 model project an El Niño event that could rival the deadliest in recorded history.

A powerful El Niño is gathering strength in the equatorial Pacific, with climate models indicating it could become one of the most intense events in modern history.

Scientists are drawing alarming parallels to the extreme 1877 El Niño, a catastrophic event that triggered global crop failures and famines, resulting in tens of millions of deaths. As unusually warm water spreads across the ocean, it disrupts atmospheric circulation, shifting rainfall patterns and extreme weather conditions thousands of miles away.

This is not just a local phenomenon; it is a massive global disruption that stresses the world’s food and water security simultaneously.

The primary concern for 2026 is the synergy between this Super El Niño and the current baseline of human-driven global warming. With global ocean temperatures already at unprecedented highs, this upcoming event could amplify heat waves, droughts, and floods to levels never before witnessed.

From collapsing fisheries and bleached coral reefs to threatened energy grids and food supplies, the potential for systemic failure is high. While forecasts continue to evolve, the increasing confidence among researchers serves as a critical warning for nations to prepare their infrastructure and public health systems for a period of extreme climatic volatility.

source: Severe Weather Europe. (2026). Atmospheric Code Red: 2026 Super El Niño Now Trending Toward Record-Breaking Intensity.

[Jitendra Hydonus]

WASHINGTON (AP) — El Nino, Nature's chaotic climate agent, has formed in a warmed-up Pacific Ocean and is expected to grow to historic strength, meteorologists announced Thursday.

Thursday: IRS Forgives Millions in Tax Debt Before June Deadline
Ad
Fresh Start Information
Thursday: IRS Forgives Millions in Tax Debt Before June Deadline
Experts said the El Nino, a natural warming cycle, should further heat a globe already warming from fossil fuel pollution and will likely turbocharge extreme weather across the planet. Meteorologists forecast it will rival — or exceed — a record El Nino that began in 1997 and helped trigger billions of dollars in damage from heat waves, floods, droughts, tornadoes and wildfires.

Climate El Nino
Climate El Nino
© Adam Gray
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officially confirmed the existence of the El Nino, which is a warming of the Pacific near the equator that affects weather patterns across the globe. NOAA's announcement said there's a 63% chance that the El Nino will get so intense this late fall and early winter that it “would rank among the largest El Nino events in the historical record going back to 1950.”

Climate El Nino
Climate El Nino
© John Locher
The warm, deep waters of an El Nino affect weather patterns by bringing “a lot of extra heat to the surface, fueling a lot of extreme events for a lot of places around the world,” said Clark University climate scientist Abby Frazier.

Related video: Texas could face major weather shifts as 'super' El Niño strengthens (Chron)

Chron
Texas could face major weather shifts as 'super' El Niño strengthens
Play Video
Play
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:34
Playback Speed
Captions
Fullscreen
Unmute
View on Watch
View on Watch
She said, especially in the Pacific, “it can get dire very quickly.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres described El Nino as an “urgent climate warning.”

“El Nino conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world,” Guterres said in a video message.

Climate El Nino
Climate El Nino
© Charlie Riedel
El Nino's impacts spawn winners and losers

The weather pattern's effects vary by region. El Nino often dampens — but doesn't eliminate — Atlantic hurricane season activity, but increases it in the Pacific. So while the U.S. East and Gulf coasts may get a break, Hawaii and other islands are more in danger, Frazier said.

Worst Auto Insurance Companies for Overcharging (Is Yours On The List?)
Ad
BlingBling.Finance
Worst Auto Insurance Companies for Overcharging (Is Yours On The List?)
The drought-stricken Middle East could benefit, climate scientists said. Other places are looking at more danger. Parts of western South America — where the first El Ninos were noticed decades ago — often get heavy rain and floods, along with an extra warm summer. India faces more intense heat waves, while drought, wildfires and heat threaten Australia.

Only $39 To Get TV Channels. No Monthly Payments Or Bills Ever Again
Ad
myconsumerreview.com
Only $39 To Get TV Channels. No Monthly Payments Or Bills Ever Again
Northeastern Africa is likely going to get weather whiplash from intense drought to dangerously heavy rains, said Columbia University climate scientist and El Nino expert Muhammad Azhar Ehsan.

In the U.S., El Ninos can cause more intense storms with heavier rainfall in the South, but they also tend to generally benefit the U.S. agriculture industry, said Jon Gottschalck, operational branch chief at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.

Thursday: IRS Forgives Millions in Tax Debt Before June Deadline
Ad
Fresh Start Information
Thursday: IRS Forgives Millions in Tax Debt Before June Deadline
Michael Ferrari, meteorologist and head of research at the investment research firm Moby, said conditions for grains and seed, especially soybeans, look favorable in 18 major growing states, but are more mixed when it comes to dairy and cattle.

The northern Rockies and Southwest — where there’s an “off the charts” snow drought — could get some strong summer rains, Gottschalck said. The biggest effect in the U.S. is often in the winter, when the south can get wetter and the Pacific Northwest warmer and drier.

But overall, temperatures raised by the weather pattern can dampen American economic growth, said Stanford climate economist Marshall Burke. Several climate scientists forecast that 2027 will be the hottest year on record because of lagging effects of this El Nino, which is expected to peak in the fall or winter.

“We have pretty clear evidence that the U.S. economy grows more slowly when temps are above normal,” Burke said.

Strong early signs

The weather extremes caused by an El Nino also depend on when it develops.

Usually El Ninos form in the summer, peak in the late fall or early winter, and peter out the next spring, scientists said.

However, Ehsan's team forecasts that this El Nino will peak a month or two earlier based on strong early signs from recent weeks. Princeton University climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi said large El Ninos like these also tend to last longer.

The early indications — including warmer water pushing toward the surface of the Pacific — have been so strong and noticeable that forecasters have all been predicting the same ultra strong El Nino, Vecchi said, adding that El Nino forecasts often are all over the place at this time of year.

Scientists predict stronger El Ninos as the world warms from the burning of coal, oil and gas, Frazier and others said. But she said it is too early to say if this El Nino is part of that.

Even before it officially formed, this El Nino has gotten nicknames ranging from “super” to “Godzilla.”

“Instead of scared, we can ask people to be prepared,” Columbia's Ehsan said

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

~ MSN