UN issues urgent update on 'Super El Nino' set to cause widespread devastation as strongest on record

The onset of a ‘super El Niño’ has been officially confirmed with an urgent warning about hotter temperatures and more extreme weather expected around the world.

The United Nations (UN) took to social media yesterday (June 2) to share the news that many people have been fearing in recent months.

This comes after the UN previously warned of a 91% probability that Earth will cross a major climate threshold by 2030.

Since then, the organization has shared an update on X, formerly Twitter, to confirm that there is an onset of an El Niño happening, stating that it is ‘urgent that countries invest in early warning systems to help communities prepare’.

The UN shared a clip of WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo discussing the potential repercussions, where she warned that the El Niño is expected to ‘influence weather and climate patterns around the world in the months ahead’.

What is an El Niño?

An El Niño is a complex climate pattern involving the warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern part of the Pacific Ocean.

When this happens it leads to knock-on effects with weather globally, including the shifting of rainfall patterns, leading to floods and droughts in certain areas.

El Niños have been classified for over 500 years, with the name actually originating from a Spanish fisherman who likened the weather event to the birth of Jesus Christ, as it typically happened around Christmas.

What will happen worldwide due to this El Niño?

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shared concerns that this El Niño could result in devastating conditions for vulnerable and unprepared communities worldwide.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres explained: “The science is clear: El Niño is arriving on our doorstep in the coming months with 90% certainty. The world must treat it as the urgent climate warning it is.

“El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world. Impacts will hit even harder, travel even farther, and cross borders with devastating speed.

“The only effective response is climate action equal to the crisis - ending the addiction to fossil fuels, accelerating the shift to renewables, protecting the most vulnerable, and delivering early warning systems for all.”

New findings from the WMO suggest that we could be heading toward some of the world’s hottest years ever recorded.

Leon Hermanson, who is the lead author of the WMO report, said that the prediction of an El Niño for the second half of 2026 ‘increases the chances of the following year, 2027, being the next record-breaking year’.

Experts warn the public that unless global emissions are drastically reduced in the coming years, record-breaking temperatures and increasingly severe climate extremes could soon become the new normal.