The hottest year is coming

The World Meteorological Organization announced today that they expect temperatures to rise across most of the world after El Niño, defined as a rise in the surface water temperature in the Pacific Ocean, appeared for the first time in seven years.

El Niño is known as the weather event that creates the greatest change in global climate. El Niño has three phases: hot, cold and inert. During the warm phase, which is repeated over a period of 2 to 7 years, surface water off the South American coast warms up and then spreads out into the ocean, adding a large amount of heat to the atmosphere. Years like 2016, when temperature records were broken, often come after a strong El Niño.

Due to El Nino and global warming, at least one of the next five years and the five-year period as a whole will see the highest temperatures on record, the World Meteorological Organization said.

For now, El Niño is expected to be active until spring 2024 and then gradually lose its effect. Due to El Niño, drought in Australia, heavier rains in the southern US and a decrease in monsoon rains in India stand out.

Wilfran Moufouma Okia, Regional Director of Climate Forecasting at the World Meteorological Organization, told reporters in Geneva: “This year or next? It’s hard to tell you when that will happen. “All we know is that we are likely to have one of the warmest years on record for the next 5 years,” he said.

VIRAL DISEASE WARNING

El Niño will have massive impacts, leading to malnutrition, epidemics, and disruptions to healthcare. The World Health Organization warned that viral diseases such as Zika and chikungunya could increase in relation to El Niño. While the organization claims that those living in the tropics will bear the brunt of extreme changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, it claims that heavy rains increase the risk of diseases like malaria and dengue fever becoming epidemics.