El Niño officially begins in the Pacific, raising global heat and weather risks

Published by Albis · 11 Jun 2026

NOAA has confirmed El Niño conditions in the tropical Pacific, with forecasters warning the event could become one of the strongest on record and amplify heat, drought, floods and other extreme weather into 2027

• • The official onset of El Niño changes planning assumptions for heat, rainfall, food production and disaster response worldwide.
• • El Niño has officially begun in the tropical Pacific, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed Thursday.
• • The agency also observed winds above the equatorial Pacific beginning to shift, a sign that the atmosphere is responding to the warmer ocean rather than the ocean warming alone.
• • CNN said NOAA gives 100% odds of El Niño continuing through the fall and extremely high odds of it continuing into winter.