A Pacific El Nino benchmark hit its warmest level ever recorded for the 15th week after formation, prompting U.N. officials to warn the event is intensifying unusually early and could peak at record strength.
WMO said the El Nino should last through spring 2027 and likely drive extreme heat, drought and heavy rainfall well into next year, with effects building from this fall and winter.
Forecasts point to higher drought and wildfire risk in Indonesia, India, parts of Asia, Australia, South America and southern Africa, while much of the United States and Southern Europe may get above-average rain.
Scientists said El Nino is amplifying heat already stored in the oceans by fossil-fuel-driven warming, raising the risk that the Northern Hemisphere next summer could be hotter than anything yet experienced globally.
Antonio Guterres used the warning to press for early-warning and cooling systems and renewed calls to curb coal, oil and gas, saying the climate crisis is being worsened by continued fossil fuel use.