El Niño 'Wrecking Ball' Could Bring Record Pacific Heat, UN Warns

NOAA satellite image showing El Niño sea-surface temperature pattern — file photo

The United Nations has warned that the current El Niño could become the strongest on record, with Pacific Ocean temperatures set to rise to levels never seen before. The World Meteorological Organization said central Pacific waters could climb 3.8 degrees Celsius above normal between November and January, peaking in December.

“We have not seen in our records 3.8,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday. “We have seen around 3 in some record El Niños before, with very substantive impacts across the world. So we are beyond that limit.”

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called the event a “wrecking ball” and a “behemoth” that will tear through Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific with extreme heat, droughts and floods — warning that some 50 million people could face increased hunger. The WMO urged governments and banks to release emergency funds before disasters strike. Flooding risks rise in southern Africa from November, while Southeast Asia faces warmer, drier conditions threatening crops and water supplies. El Niño is a natural cycle, not caused by climate change — though global warming can make it more intense.

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