The El Nino weather event gripping the planet could reach unprecedented strength, the United Nations warned on Wednesday, urging countries to prepare for the worst.

Celeste Saulo, head of the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO), told a press conference in Geneva that the current El Nino event could be “literally off the monitoring charts that we have used for the past four decades”.

“El Nino will peak towards the end of 2026, but its impacts will be felt long after that,” she said.

Temperatures could soar 3.8°C above average

The WMO’s latest global seasonal climate updates forecast that sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean may rise to 3.8°C above average during November to January. This figure is way out of line with typical El Nino readings.

“This will have far-reaching consequences for weather patterns across the world,” Saulo said.

The naturally occurring weather event is set to bring higher temperatures to much of the planet. Its impact will compound the effects of man-made climate change, the UN’s weather and climate agency said.

A ‘wrecking ball’ of extreme weather

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher joined Saulo at the press conference, describing El Nino as a “wrecking ball” of extreme heat, droughts and floods in different parts of the world.

“Today, we are issuing a joint call for urgent and coordinated anticipatory action. We cannot stop El Nino, but we can prevent many of its worst human consequences,” Saulo said.

Fletcher warned that the damage will not stay in countries in the immediate path of El Nino. It will create economic shocks for the global economy and drive further conflict, displacement and migration.

“I am sounding the alarm that the humanitarian system cannot alone cope with a threat on this scale,” he said.

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$50 million released for frontline countries

Fletcher called on countries, development banks and international financial institutions to get money moving “before that damage is done, not afterwards”.

“The choice is clear: we can wait for disaster or we can invest in resilience. We cannot prevent El Nino but we can be serious about the challenges ahead,” he said.

Fletcher released $50 million to help 11 countries on the frontline, including Chad, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan.

El Nino warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, bringing worldwide changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns. It takes place every two to seven years and lasts around nine to 12 months.

Conditions oscillate between El Nino and its opposite, La Nina, with neutral conditions in between.

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