<\/p>\n
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), on Wednesday, warned that tropical Pacific sea-surface temperatures could rise to 3.8\u00b0C above average between November 2026 and January 2027.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A temperature anomaly of 0.5\u00b0C is sufficient to trigger an El Ni\u00f1o alert, while previous events reaching 3\u00b0C have caused substantial global disruption. \u201cThe current El Ni\u00f1o event could be unprecedented in strength, literally off the monitoring charts that we have used for the past four decades,\u201d WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Saulo said the weather pattern was expected to peak towards the end of 2026, but the consequences could persist for months or years. \u201cWe are beyond that limit, out of our records, out of our statistics of what we can expect,\u201d Saulo said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher warned that the event could bring extreme heat, droughts and floods across Latin America, eastern and southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya urgently require financing and supplies before heavy rainfall arrives. Southern African countries need seeds and support to protect livestock, while Central America requires assistance to safeguard livelihoods. \u201cIt would be an extraordinary failure to see this crisis coming, to hear the predictions from the experts, and yet still squander the opportunity to protect people in its path,\u201d Fletcher said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The severe weather pattern could cost African countries between $10 billion and $20 billion and reduce gross domestic product by between 1% and 2%.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The UN has released more than $50 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to support preparedness in 11 countries, including Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and El Salvador.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UN agencies are also supporting flood barriers in Chile, stronger shelters in Madagascar and Nigeria and community-led drainage systems in Yemen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Yemen, where more than 4 million people are displaced, partners supported construction of a 2.5-kilometre flood-diversion channel in Al-Hazm.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Saulo said early warnings and scientific forecasts provided governments with an opportunity to act before the weather pattern developed into a wider humanitarian disaster. \u201cWe have the scientific forecasts, the early warnings to save lives and protect livelihoods,\u201d Saulo said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41511,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-48770","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The strongest El Ni\u00f1o weather pattern on record could expose another 50 million people to hunger as extreme floods, droughts and heat intensify worldwide, the United Nations (UN) says.","published_date":"","news_description":"The strongest El Ni\u00f1o weather pattern on record could expose another 50 million people to hunger as extreme floods, droughts and heat intensify worldwide, the United Nations (UN) says.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48770","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":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48772,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48770\/revisions\/48772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=48770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}