WMO Warns of Strong El Niño Ahead: Sea Temperatures Could Run 3.8°C Above Average; UN Says Some 50 Million People Could Face Worsening Hunger
The secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Celeste Saulo, said that from November 2026 to January 2027, tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures could run 3.8 degrees Celsius above average — a value never seen in forty years of monitoring charts — with the peak expected around the end of this year, according to the transcript of a joint OCHA-WMO press conference released by the UN office in Geneva on October 21.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher told the same briefing that a strong El Niño could leave some 50 million people facing worsening hunger. The African Development Bank estimates African countries could lose $10–$20 billion, with GDP falling by 1 to 2 percentage points.
(Pictured: sea surface temperature anomalies during the 1997 El Niño, NOAA file image.)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: NOAA · Public domain
