Across the tropical Pacific, a climate pattern as old as the ocean itself has reached a new extreme — sea surface temperatures climbing 3.05 degrees above their historical norm, surpassing every previous record before the event has even peaked. El Niño, the periodic warming that reshuffles rainfall, storms, and seasons across the entire planet, is now the strongest ever measured, arriving at a moment when the world's most vulnerable communities can least afford disruption to food, water, and shelter. Scientists watch with a mixture of certainty and humility: they know the mechanism, they can r
Record-breaking El Niño already reshaping global weather patterns
El Niño impacts threaten global food security and increase risks of floods, droughts, and wildfires affecting vulnerable populations in Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Australia, Indonesia, and India.