The El Nino weather pattern could cause a record rise in ocean temperatures in the Pacific as it barrels around the globe like a "wrecking ball" causing floods and droughts, UN officials said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The World Meteorological Organization's new seasonal outlook predicted the El Nino event would become extremely strong, with temperatures in the central Pacific rising about 3.8 degrees Celsius above normal between November and January, peaking around December. "We have not seen in our records 3.8. We have seen around 3 in some record El Ninos before, with very substantive impacts across the world. So we are beyond that limit," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said.

UN media reported Saulo saying the current El Nino could be unprecedented in strength — "literally off the monitoring charts that we have used for the past four decades" — and that it will peak towards the end of 2026, with impacts felt long after. El Nino is the warm phase of the naturally occurring El Nino-Southern Oscillation cycle, a climate pattern that influences weather worldwide; it tends to cause higher global temperatures and disrupt rainfall, meaning drought in some areas and heavy rains in others, Reuters reported. It is a natural pattern and is not caused by climate change, but global warming can make El Ninos more intense. Weather extremes linked to it could worsen pressure on housing, water, sanitation and health services, with flooding risks rising in southern Africa from November, warmer and drier conditions threatening agriculture and water in Southeast Asia, and increased rainfall expected in Latin America, the WMO said.

Saulo and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher called for urgent action to prepare. "This El Nino is the behemoth, it is a wrecking ball. It will tear through Latin America, Eastern and Southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific with extreme heat, droughts and flood," Fletcher said, warning of massive humanitarian consequences; Reuters via DevDiscourse reported Fletcher said some 50 million people (yaani 5 crore people) could face increased hunger. Fletcher said he had released $50 million (yaani 5 crore dollars) to support 11 countries facing heightened risks, including Chad, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan, according to reporting on the UN briefing. Sources: Reuters via 93.5 The Lloyd (Oct 21, 2026); UNifeed / UN Media — Geneva El Nino presser (Oct 21, 2026); Reuters via DevDiscourse (Oct 21, 2026); AFP via HK Business Wire (Oct 21, 2026).