Scientists fear this summer will combine the effects of El Niño and climate change

Wondering why with the onset of summers this year, the scorching heatwave has left the world burning and sweating! Well, recently The United Nations has issued a stark warning that a new phase of the natural El Niño weather pattern is locked and loaded to begin within a matter of weeks. The World Meteorological Organization expects this warming trend to strengthen rapidly throughout the rest of 2026, dropping extreme weather across much of the globe and piling immense pressure onto a planet already suffocating from climate change. With multiple national forecast agencies warning that this could morph into a historic "super" El Niño, scientists are watching the central Pacific with growing alarm.

The sudden pacific flip
According to a report published in the BBC, experts believe that predicting the exact moment an El Niño will strike is a bit tricky, but the signs emerging from the central Pacific are now unmistakable. Back in December, these tropical waters were actually running cooler than average, showing zero indicators of an upcoming shift. Just three months later, the script completely flipped as a massive patch of warm, orange-coded water rapidly bloomed across the equator and pushed directly toward the coast of South America.

Tracking the deep-ocean heatwave
As per the report published in the BBC, it is believed that the real reason scientists are bracing for a monster event lies hidden hundreds of meters beneath the ocean surface. Satellite data, deep-sea buoys, and floating marine sensors have detected a massive subsurface wave of water cooking at over 6°C above average, creeping steadily eastward. Michelle L’Heureux, a physical scientist at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, noted that this hidden reservoir of deep-sea heat actively rivals the most destructive El Niño events we have ever witnessed.


Fuel on the climate fire
When that deep-sea heat inevitably breaches the surface, it warms the atmosphere above it, violently disrupting global wind patterns and steering currents. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that this impending El Niño will essentially pour fuel onto the fire of a warming world. The resulting climate impacts are expected to hit communities harder, travel farther, and cross international borders with devastating speed.


The global target zones
While no two El Niño events behave exactly the same, a "super" event traditionally triggers predictable, severe regional chaos. Parts of South America, Southeast Asia, and Australia are expected to plunge into extreme heat and dry spells, drastically elevating the risk of catastrophic droughts and wildfires. Simultaneously, the system threatens to weaken the vital Indian monsoon while triggering intense, flood-inducing rainstorms across the southern United States.