The WMO said there is a near‑100 % chance that the El Niño will continue at least until February 2027, and it warned that the event could surpass any observed since modern monitoring began.

Scientists link the extraordinary strength to exceptionally warm surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, which are feeding the climate pattern with extra heat.

El Niño is a natural cycle in which sea‑surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific rise because the usual east‑to‑west trade winds weaken; it repeats every two to seven years and normally lasts up to a year.

When an El Niño becomes very strong, it can dramatically reshape global rainfall and temperature patterns and can trigger extreme weather such as powerful typhoons.

Already, this year’s event has helped spark a severe food crisis in Central America’s “Dry Corridor,” where drought and floods are hurting crops and livelihoods.

WMO Secretary‑General Celeste Saulo told a Geneva press conference that “if this trajectory continues, it may be stronger than anything since our monitoring began – literally off the charts for the past four decades.”

United Nations Secretary‑General Antonio Guterres added that “the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up,” underscoring the unprecedented nature of the current El Niño.