The UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has confirmed it: El Niño conditions have arrived and are expected to become moderate to strong as they develop over the coming year. El Niño is the hot phase of a natural fluctuation in the Earth’s climate system (the full name of which is the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, or ENSO) which normally lasts for a couple of years and is happening on top of a long-term trend of human-driven global warming.
This year is already proving hot. Widespread heatwaves have contributed to the hottest June on record, temperatures in parts of the northeast Atlantic were up to 5°C warmer than normal for June and sea ice around Antarctica is 2.5 million square kilometres smaller than average for the time of year, well below any level recorded since 1979.
