El Niño is back, and the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is warning that it could threaten lives.
The global weather phenomenon refers to when waters in the Pacific Ocean become much warmer than usual.
After three years of the cooling La Niña weather pattern, the WMO announced that El Niño is now underway and has a 90 per cent probability of continuing until the end of the year at moderate strength or higher.
Temperature records are already being broken and El Niño could push the world past a new average temperature record.
"El Niño is normally associated with record breaking temperatures at the global level. Whether this will happen in 2023 or 2024 is not yet known, but it is, I think, more likely than not," says Carlo Buontempo, director of the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The climatic event could have drastic weather effects from searing heatwaves to stronger storms.
The WMO has urged governments to take adequate precautions in order to prevent loss of life.
“The declaration by WMO is the signal to governments around the world to mobilise preparations," says Petteri Taalas, the WMO secretary-general.
"Early warnings and anticipatory action of extreme weather events associated with this major climate phenomenon are vital to save lives and livelihoods.”
The El Niño climate event is responsible for raising global temperatures and aggravating extreme weather events.
It is caused by ocean temperatures and winds in the Pacific that oscillate between warming El Niño and cooling La Niña.
This year is already predicted to be hotter than 2022 and the fifth or sixth hottest year on record.
The effects of El Niño take months to be felt and may mean 2024 breaks temperature records.
