UN weather agency warns El Niño will intensify next month

The United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued a warning on Friday that the El Niño climate pattern, which already influences temperature and precipitation worldwide, is expected to strengthen beginning next month. The alert comes as many regions are contending with above‑normal temperatures and significant shifts in rainfall, conditions that scientists say could be amplified by a more vigorous El Niño episode.

According to the WMO, an intensified El Niño typically brings hotter and drier conditions to parts of Southeast Asia, Australia and southern Africa, while increasing the likelihood of heavy rains and flooding in the western coast of South America, the southern United States and parts of the Caribbean. The organization’s seasonal forecasts project heightened risks for agricultural yields, water supply and public health in the affected zones, and it urges national weather services and disaster‑management agencies to prepare mitigation strategies and enhance early‑warning systems. Monitoring will continue throughout the upcoming season to assess the pattern’s evolution and to provide updated guidance to vulnerable communities.