{"id":571,"date":"2026-06-21T13:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T13:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=571"},"modified":"2026-06-21T13:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T13:40:15","slug":"meteorologists-warn-that-this-could-be-the-strongest-el-nino-this-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=571","title":{"rendered":"Meteorologists Warn That This Could Be the Strongest El Ni\u00f1o This Century"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The oceanic phenomenon known as El Ni\u00f1o, which increases temperatures worldwide, has officially begun, according to U.S. weather forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. <\/p>\n

Meteorologists have warned that this could be the strongest El Ni\u00f1o this century. It is expected to drive extreme weather events around the world, including both severe droughts and heavy rainfall, likely leading to major disruptions in agricultural production and food security. <\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o is part of a cyclical, naturally occurring weather pattern that redistributes warm air, surface water temperatures, and moisture across the tropical Pacific Ocean. During El Ni\u00f1o, trade winds that typically blow east-to-west from the Americas to southeast Asia slow down or sometimes reverse. Normally, these winds push warm water along the equator \u2014 but during El Ni\u00f1o conditions, that warm water shifts back east. Although El Ni\u00f1o does not follow a specific timeline, it typically occurs every two to seven years. <\/p>\n

Beginning in the summer, El Ni\u00f1o typically peaks around December or the following January. (The pattern was named El Ni\u00f1o \u2014 Spanish for little boy \u2014 by fishermen in South America who noticed warmer waters around Christmas time, and associated it with the birth of Jesus Christ.) That means the most significant impacts of the cyclical weather phenomenon may not be felt until months from now. NOAA\u2019s most recent calculations show a high likelihood of a \u201cvery strong\u201d El Ni\u00f1o, meaning average surface temperatures in the Pacific jump by more than 2 degrees Celsius. (Some experts are calling this year\u2019s a \u201csuper\u201d El Ni\u00f1o, although some agencies, like the World Meteorological Organization, reject this language.) <\/p>\n

Because it impacts a \u201cdiverse set of geographies,\u201d said Weston Anderson, a climate scientist at the University of Maryland, \u201cthere is no one set of impacts.\u201d El Ni\u00f1o can contribute to severe droughts in one part of the world and heavy rainfall in others \u2014 both of which can disrupt growing seasons in key breadbaskets of the world. <\/p>\n

But the ways in which this year\u2019s El Ni\u00f1o will interact with the effects of global warming \u2014 and what that means for food security \u2014 is something scientists are still actively observing and untangling. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat question is still really important open science,\u201d said Jennifer Burney, a professor at Stanford\u2019s Doerr School of Sustainability whose work focuses on climate and food security. <\/p>\n

History can give us some examples. In 1877, one of the strongest El Ni\u00f1os ever recorded was associated with historic droughts across Asia, as well as in parts of Brazil and northern Africa. These droughts, \u201calong with colonial policies, contributed to famines in many regions which were really devastating,\u201d said Deepti Singh, an associate professor at Washington State University who co-authored a study on this period of global famine. <\/p>\n

Read more Iran Closes Strait of Hormuz in Response to Israel\u2019s Attacks on Lebanon<\/a><\/p>\n

The fatalities associated with these famines, upward of 50 million people, said Singh, \u201care humbling to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last El Ni\u00f1o occurred in 2023 and 2024. It was one of the five strongest El Ni\u00f1os ever recorded, according to the World Meteorological Organization, and is considered to have contributed to the historic temperatures in 2024, making it the hottest year on record. <\/p>\n

That year came with devastating consequences for growers, especially in arid regions where agricultural producers primarily rely on rainfall to irrigate their crops. Droughts driven by El Ni\u00f1o across southern Africa contributed to increased food insecurity and malnutrition in several countries. <\/p>\n

Burney noted that in some vulnerable regions, local governments may have adaptive strategies in place to grow key crops earlier in the growing season or to increase imports during El Ni\u00f1o years, which can help offset food insecurity. But even in those cases, local farmers who depend on growing and selling crops to support themselves and their families may still experience economic setbacks. In other words, certain policies may ensure there\u2019s \u201cenough food,\u201d but \u201cthat\u2019s not going to take care of the people whose livelihoods depend on\u201d agriculture, Burney said. <\/p>\n

This year, El Ni\u00f1o conditions are expected to impact a number of growing areas \u2014 another setback for agricultural producers who have faced higher input costs stemming from the Iran war. Farmers worldwide have already been impacted by fertilizer shortages and price hikes since the Strait of Hormuz closed this spring. <\/p>\n

Weather variability fueled by El Ni\u00f1o will add to growers\u2019 woes. India, where the majority of the world\u2019s rice comes from, is projected to have a weaker monsoon season, which could reduce yields. Drier, hotter conditions could lead to diminished maize production in southern Africa. The southern U.S. states, from California all the way to the eastern seaboard, will experience a wetter year than normal, which could lead to flooding and upend crop production. <\/p>\n

But the exact way that this El Ni\u00f1o will unfurl is yet unknown. As El Ni\u00f1o interacts with the additional warming and moisture currently in our atmosphere caused by climate change, \u201cthere is likely to be a change in which regions are likely to be affected\u201d by extreme weather, said Singh. Still, she added, we can expect \u201cthe severity, extent, and likelihood\u201d of extreme weather events like droughts \u201cto be higher\u201d in today\u2019s warmer climate.<\/p>\n

Read more Sentencing of Palestine Action Defendants Marks a Dangerous Escalation<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cyclical weather pattern could lead to major disruptions in agricultural production and food security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nMeteorologists Warn That This Could Be the Strongest El Ni\u00f1o This Century - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=571\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meteorologists Warn That This Could Be the Strongest El Ni\u00f1o This Century - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The cyclical weather pattern could lead to major disruptions in agricultural production and food security.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=571\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-21T13:40:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=571#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=571\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"Meteorologists Warn That This Could Be the Strongest El Ni\u00f1o This Century\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-21T13:40:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=571\"},\"wordCount\":944,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=571#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/16afed6aef8c1c4face5c05fa8bd57a0.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=571#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=571\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=571\",\"name\":\"Meteorologists Warn That This Could Be the Strongest El Ni\u00f1o This Century - 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