- By Kamakshi Bishnoi
- Fri, 13 Mar 2026 07:38 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
With the onset of summer, major regions across the nation have started experiencing excessive heatwaves. As per climate scientists, the situation serves as a warning for the planet to enter one of the strongest El Nino phase, which might have a significant impact around the globe.
Recent forecasts by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts have suggested that a strong, or even “super” El Nino could develop later this year. Forecast models indicate that ocean and atmospheric signals may begin aligning by June, an important indicator that the climate phenomenon is taking shape.
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What Is El Nino?
El Nino effect refers to phenomena in which the warming of the Pacific Ocean waters in South America results in the weakening of the monsoon winds and less rainfall in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. El Nino is accompanied by high air pressure in the western Pacific and low air pressure in the eastern Pacific. El Nino can affect the climate and can also disrupt normal weather patterns. Also known as "The Little Boy", El Nino can lead to heavy and intense storms in one part while droughts in another part of the same region.
The historical association of El Nino occurrences with elevated temperatures and inferior monsoon precipitation across all parts of India, coupled with evidence that alternating patterns of winds between land and sea can cause the monsoon winds (which transport moisture from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal to land) to weaken, supports expectation that if El Nino is as strong as forecasted, it will produce greater prospects for increased occurrence of heatwaves over most of northern and central India, and increase possibility for a below-normal amount of rain during the monsoon season.
The potential impact of this powerful El Nino is that it could push global temperature levels to unprecedented highs, and given the record-high global temperature levels that preceded the major El Nino episodes in 1997-98 and 2015-16, we should all anticipate extreme global weather events as well as a spike in global temperature due to the El Nino event.
The possible weather effects of this developing global climate pattern are likely to have global implications as well. For example, because of enhanced vertical wind shear associated with El Niño, it will be difficult for hurricane activity to occur in the Atlantic Ocean basin; conversely, in the western Pacific, an increase in typhoon activity is expected to occur.
While there is still insufficient evidence at this time to be definitive about the strength of this event, the evidence currently available indicates that a strong El Nino event is developing, and further indications of the potential for future changes in global weather patterns will soon become more evident.