Long-range weather models are now predicting that a strong, potentially “super” El Niño is imminent. On Sunday, April 5, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts updated its forecast — showing that this might become the strongest event in over a century.
The effects from El Niño are expansive and wide-reaching, influencing droughts, floods, sea ice, hurricanes, and extreme heat across the planet. The stronger an El Niño pattern is the more persistent and widespread its impacts are.
Covering Climate Now and Climate Central hosted a webinar exploring the science behind the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and how this supercharged climate pattern may push global temperatures to record-levels. In this press briefing, meteorologists and reporters highlighted the many weather impacts predicted to unfold in 2026-2027 given past El Niño events and equipped journalists with a better understanding of how to make the climate connection in their own reporting.