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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Environment
Graham Readfearn

El Niño: what does it mean for Australia – and are more heatwaves and bushfires inevitable?

Firefighters battle a bushfire
In Australia, El Niños have tended to increase the risks of drought, heatwaves, bushfires and coral bleaching. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

The UN’s weather agency warned this past week the world was now in the grip of an El Niño that would likely see a “surge in global temperatures and disruptive weather and climate patterns” around the planet.

The World Meteorological Organization’s declaration followed that of the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has also said the phenomenon is now set in place in the tropical Pacific.

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