{"id":44690,"date":"2026-09-05T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T07:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=44690"},"modified":"2026-09-05T09:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T07:00:19","slug":"wmo-warns-el-nino-will-persist-until-february-2027","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/wmo-warns-el-nino-will-persist-until-february-2027\/","title":{"rendered":"WMO warns El Ni\u00f1o will persist until February 2027 \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned that the El Ni\u00f1o climate pattern is firmly established in the tropical Pacific and is virtually certain to persist through to February 2027.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo confirmed that sea surface and subsurface ocean temperatures have risen far above seasonal averages, creating conditions that will continue to fuel the weather phenomenon.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The extended cycle is expected to trigger widespread shifts in global climate patterns, raising severe concerns for agricultural yields, water security, and extreme weather risks across vulnerable regions, particularly in Southern and Eastern Africa, where El Ni\u00f1o historically drives severe droughts and erratic rainfall.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44691,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-44690","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Global climate agency warns extended El Ni\u00f1o threatens severe weather across Africa","published_date":"2026-09-05 08:28:04","news_description":"Global climate agency warns extended El Ni\u00f1o threatens severe weather across Africa","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44692,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44690\/revisions\/44692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=44690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}