Unsettling sign Super El Niño is getting worse as scientists warn extreme conditions are incoming
Experts are warning that global ocean temperatures have now reached an all time high, with signs that incoming the Super El Niño could be getting worse.
This comes after a report by CNN suggested that the current El Niño is set to become a Super El Niño by October 2026, and is expected to become the strongest one on record by the end of the year.
As per the BBC, Professor Adam Scaife, who is the head of long-range forecasting at the UK Met Office, stated: “We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event. I have never seen an El Niño signal this intense in our forecasts.”
Earlier this year, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also issued an urgent warning about the anticipated super El Niño, saying: “El Niño conditions developed over the past month, as shown by above-average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) across the central to eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.”
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The agency continued: “There is a 63% chance of a very strong El Niño during November-January, that would rank among the largest El Niño events in the historical record going back to 1950.”
Now, scientists are raising the alarm over one particular sign that extreme weather conditions are incoming - global ocean temperatures.
This comes as the Daily Mail reported that sea surface temperatures outside of the polar regions reached a whopping 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
What is an El Niño?
An El Niño is a complex climate pattern which involves the warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern part of the Pacific Ocean.
This leads to knock-on effects with weather globally, including the shifting of rainfall patterns, leading to floods and droughts in certain areas.
Back in 1877, the world suffered one of the deadliest climate disasters in recorded history when a massive El Niño event disrupted weather patterns across huge parts of the world.
This caused extreme drought in countries including India, China, Brazil and regions of Africa, with crops failing on a huge scale, rivers dried up and food shortages spiralled into famine.
Historians and climate researchers estimate the combined death toll from the global famines linked to the 1877 El Niño reached somewhere between 30 and 60 million people.
Researchers around the world now fear that another El Niño might push the planet into even more dangerous territory because global temperatures are already being supercharged by climate change.