PARIS: The warming El Nino weather phenomenon could form later this year, potentially pushing global temperatures to record heights.
There is a 50 to 60 percent chance of El Nino developing during the July-September period and beyond, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The World Meteorological Organization will issue an update on El Nino on Tuesday.
Here’s what you need to know about El Nino and its cooler sister, La Nina:
El Nino and its cooler sister La Nina are two phases of a natural climate pattern across the tropical Pacific known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.
SPEEDREAD
The last El Nino occurred in 2023-2024, contributing to making 2023 the second highest year on record and 2024 the all-time high.
Peruvian and Ecuadoran fishermen coined the term El Nino (“the boy”) in the 19th century for the arrival of an unusually warm ocean current off the coast that reduced their catch just before Christmas.
Scientists chose the name La Nina as the opposite of El Nino. Between the two events, there is a “neutral” phase.
El Nino can weaken consistent trade winds that blow east to west across the tropical Pacific, influencing weather by affecting the movement of warm water across this vast ocean.
This weakening warms the usually cooler central and eastern sides of the ocean, altering rainfall over the equatorial Pacific and wind patterns around the world.
The last El Nino occurred in 2023-2024, contributing to making 2023 the second highest year on record and 2024 the all-time high.
The latest La Nina episode was relatively weak and short lived, starting in December 2024 and due to enter a neutral phase during the February-April period.
La Nina cools the eastern Pacific Ocean for a period of about one to three years, generating the opposite effects to El Nino on global weather. La Nina did not stop 2025 from being the third hottest on record.
