'An unprecedented event': UK Met Office says this year's El Niño to be 'biggest for over a century'

'An unprecedented event': UK Met Office notes this year's El Niño to be 'biggest for over a century'.

Key points

• Temperatures in the region are at present running concerning 2.6°C above a rolling 30-year average, according to the Climate Brink dashboard.
• The weather pattern is additionally anticipated to cause "increased rainfall and storminess in the autumn here in the UK around November time", Scaife noted.
• There are well-known impacts on other systems including food, food security, remarked Scaife, a physicist who specialises in climate modelling.
• He called it "an unprecedented event", adding that "I have never seen an El Niño signal this intense in our forecasts".

'An unprecedented event': UK Met Office notes this year's El Niño to be 'biggest for over a century'. AFP Published August 21, 2026 Updated August 21, 2026 02: 21pm. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

This year's El Niño weather pattern will be the biggest in over a century, warming sea surface temperatures to an "unheard-of" level, Britain's national weather agency predicted on Friday.

Meanwhile, the El Niño weather pattern is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5°C above the baseline average, triggering worldwide changes in winds, atmospheric pressure and rainfall patterns, and causing warmer global temperatures overall.

Adam Scaife, head of long-range forecasting at the Met Office, informed the BBC that "We are expecting the biggest El Niño for over a century, peaking at something over three degrees – that is unheard-of in modern climate records."

For context, the anomalous warmth, which is "up to nearly two degrees already", will have particularly solid effects throughout the Tropics, Scaife stated, "where we expect really severe droughts in places like South America, and the West Pacific".

"These are not short-term weather forecasts. We're talking regarding really long-term, persistent conditions here. There are well-known impacts on other systems including food, food security, " remarked Scaife, a physicist who specialises in climate modelling.

For context, the weather pattern is additionally anticipated to cause "increased rainfall and storminess in the autumn here in the UK around November time", Scaife noted. Join DawnMedia's Breathe Pakistan initiative to combat climate change.

Taken together, the developments around ' An unprecedented event' : UK Met Office says this year' s El Niño to point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.