We can’t stop the ‘Godzilla’ El Niño

El Niño can’t be stopped, but experts say better preparation and climate action could reduce the damage both now and in the future.

The ‘Godzilla’ El Niño is here, and it is already breaking records the world would rather have left unbroken.

Sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean have already surpassed the highest recorded during any previous El Niño, and the weather phenomenon is still strengthening. Between June 2026 and February 2027, experts estimate the extreme heat associated with it could contribute to 451,000 additional deaths.

The forecast has set off alarm bells among weather agencies, health authorities and governments around the world, <a href="https://warsaw.today/korean-air-chicago-ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam-867-roundtrip-<a href="https://warsaw.today/korean-air-dallas-bangkok-thailand-878-roundtrip-including-all-taxes/” title=”Korean Air: Dallas – Bangkok, Thailand. $878. Roundtrip, including all Taxes”>including-all-taxes/” title=”Korean Air: Chicago – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. $867. Roundtrip, including all Taxes”>including an unprecedented mobilisation by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to prepare for the extreme weather ahead.

“El Niño is being supersized before our eyes,” outgoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in early September. “The planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up.”

But even as governments brace for what could be a devastating year of extreme weather, experts say there is still plenty that can be done to limit the damage – both now and in the future.

Why is this El Niño so concerning?

Records aside, many worry about what an El Niño of this strength could mean for weather around the world in the months ahead.

An El Niño event starts in the Pacific, but its effects can be felt around the world. When waters near the equator become unusually warm, they release heat into the atmosphere, pushing up global temperatures and changing where rain falls.

With ocean temperatures already at record highs, this El Niño could bring more intense heat, drought and heavy rainfall in vulnerable regions and push global temperatures to new highs – earning it the nicknames ‘Godzilla’ and ‘Super’ El Niño.

Some of those effects are already being felt. India has already experienced below-normal monsoon rainfall while southern Africa faces an increased risk of drought.

Even though Europe is unlikely to experience the most severe direct effects, El Niño can influence winter weather, and droughts or failed harvests elsewhere can disrupt supplies of foods imported into Europe.

The threat is already prompting governments to act around the world. This month, California Governor Gavin Newsom preemptively declared a state of emergency to prepare for potential flooding, landslides, coastal erosion and powerful winter storms.

How can we prepare for an unavoidable El Niño?

For all the preparations we make, one thing remains unavoidable: El Niño is a natural phenomenon. But even if we can’t prevent it, forecasts give us months to prepare.

“The key is to manage water and prepare for the changes in where and when rainfall occurs,” says Davide Faranda, research director at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a lead author for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

For example, he explains, governments can store and distribute water more carefully, better control how reservoirs and underground water are used, adjust farming schedules and irrigation practices, and prepare communities for droughts or floods.

The FAO has also offered concrete advice. Farmers, FAO officials say, can reduce losses by changing planting dates, irrigating at cooler times of day, storing water ahead of droughts and taking steps to protect their crops and livestock from extreme heat.

Some governments have stepped up with financial support.

The UK has pledged up to £15 million (€17 million) to help vulnerable countries prepare for this El Niño. The money will fund measures that range from vaccinating livestock before droughts to reinforcing homes before flooding and providing farmers with cash before harvests fail.

Climate action could limit future damage

Most El Niño events increase global average temperatures by around 0.2°C. While this is enough to trigger extreme weather conditions across the Global South, it is a fraction of the additional warming caused by climate change.

The burning of fossil fuels has pushed global average surface temperatures by approximately 1.3°C to 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels, paving the way for Europe’s scorching summer that triggered mass droughts and wildfires.

El Niño’s impacts are therefore compounded by an already warming world. It’s why 2025 was the third warmest year on record – hotter than the El Niño year of 2016 – despite the naturally forming cool drag of a La Niña event.

Recent research suggests that climate change is turbocharging El Niño as well. A study published in August found that El Niños are 36 per cent stronger than before the industrial era, a trend researchers linked to human-caused warming.

If climate change is making El Niño stronger, then preparation will only go so far. But Faranda says cutting emissions can make a big difference over the long term.

A hotter planet means more extreme heat, more strain on water supplies and, in some places, more rainfall. Reducing emissions would not stop the natural climate cycle that leads to El Niños, he explains, but it would reduce the human-caused warming that is making those threats more severe.

That means the damage is not entirely beyond our control. “We cannot eliminate El Niño through climate mitigation,” Faranda says, “but we can reduce the extent to which climate change makes its consequences more severe.”

Source: www.euronews.com