Off The Charts El Nino To Last Till Feb. 2027: WMO
The strong El Nino, necessarily does not mean dire results in its area of influence which includes the Indian sub-continent. The chief of climate prediction at the WMO, W. Moufouma-Okia, said the certainty in forecast did not mean certainty on impact
HYDERABAD: It’s here, and it’s not going anywhere. The World Meteorological Organization on Wednesday put paid to any remote hopes that the El Nino system, that affects the Indian monsoon, might disappear anytime soon.
The WMO said that there was an “exceptionally high likelihood of nearly 100 per cent ” that El Niño will persist through to February 2027. It further said that this is the first time that a WMO El Nino/La Nina Update has been so unequivocal.
WMO secretary general Celeste Saulo in a press conference from Geneva, Switzerland, said this year’s El Nino was “exceptionally strong, stronger than anything since monitoring began. It’s literally off the charts.” She said while the El Nino would peak towards end of 2026, its impact would be felt long after that.
“El Nino in Spanish means boy child – but it has the potential to deliver a massive blow to communities and economies across the world. We are already seeing disruption and devastation from droughts and floods and we expect these impacts to increase as El Nino intensifies,” she said.
“The science is clear, we are issuing a call to action,” she added.
However, the strong El Nino, necessarily does not mean dire results in its area of influence which includes the Indian sub-continent. The chief of climate prediction at the WMO, W. Moufouma-Okia, said the certainty in forecast did not mean certainty on impact. “The impact depends on where you are the time of the year, as the impact plays out with other climatic drivers,” he said. But India could see drier than normal conditions, he added.
It may be recalled that the Indian Meteorological Department too in its latest end of the season forecast – typically the southwest monsoon begins withdrawing from India mid or late September – had said that there could be mixed results, with the peninsular India experiencing dry conditions while some parts of India including West Bengal, UP, Bihar and its adjoining areas, experiencing normal rains during September.
