EL NIÑO TO PEAK IN DECEMBER

SINGAPORE, OCTOBER 8 /SRNA-Reuters/ - This year's El Niño weather phenomenon will intensify before reaching its peak in December, and there is almost a 100 percent chance that it will last until February 2027, the World Meteorological Organization said.

In its regular monthly report, the WMO said sea surface temperatures would break records and that this year's El Niño could potentially be one of the strongest since 1950.

The WMO added that sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific are expected to reach a record 3.7 degrees Celsius above normal between October and December.

The forecast temperature anomaly is significantly higher than the previous record of 2.6 degrees Celsius recorded between November 2015 and January 2016, the report said.

El Niño is the warm phase of a natural climate cycle that affects weather patterns around the world.

A prolonged and stronger El Niño tends to cause higher global temperatures and disrupt precipitation patterns across large regions. This means drought in some areas and heavy rainfall in others. It usually occurs every two to seven years.

The average global temperature in August reached 16.96 degrees Celsius, matching July 2023 as the hottest month on record, according to data from the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service.