El Niño that fuelled global temperature spike is forecast by WMO to swing to cooler La Niña later this yearLocal residents rush to get cold water at an ice factory in Jacobabad, Pakistan, in another brutal summer in the age of climate change.
However, naturally occurring climate events now take place in the context of climate change, which is increasing global temperatures, exacerbating extreme weather and climate, and impacting seasonal rainfall and temperature patterns, the WMO added.Even rollercoasters in the sky will not jolt us out of our complacency on climate change
The past nine years have been the warmest on record even with the cooling influence of a multiyear La Niña from 2020 to early 2023. El Niño peaked in December 2023 as one of the five strongest on record. Latest forecasts from WMO global producing centres of long-range forecasts give equal chances of either neutral conditions or a transition to La Niña during June-August 2024. The chance of La Niña conditions increases to 60 per cent during July-September and 70 per cent during August-November. The chance of El Niño redeveloping is negligible during this time, it confirmed.