Super al neeno is true – Fact Check

Here, combining observational analyses with simple numerical simulations, we suggest that eastern Pacific intensified super El Niños result from the interaction of an El Niño and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole.

An El Niño is coming, models say, but Nature spoke to researchers about when and how we’ll know its intensity.

NOAA has declared an El Niño in June 2026, with a "Super El Niño" expected to peak this winter. USGS researchers are tracking how warming waters threaten Alaska's ecosystems, from seabird die-offs and harmful algal blooms to heat-stressed salmon.

Scientists are telling us that ... scientific organisations, but it is used to denote a very strong El Niño, where the warming of sea surface temperatures is higher than 2C above normal....

El Niños that see heating reach or exceed 2C are defined as “super” but this one, which is forecast to top-out at an astonishing 4C later this year, is so much bigger, the term “hyper” might be more appropriate. El Niño is nothing new. Evidence for its existence extends back hundreds of millions of years and its ramifications have always been negative and disruptive.

"The warm tendency is most pronounced in the western half of Canada, but in a super El Niño, winter warmth can extend right to the eastern provinces," he says. The warm temperatures can continue into spring, especially in western Canada. The winter and spring warmth, combined with less rainfall can lead to less snow and drier soil, Merryfield adds. "A couple of degrees of added warmth can make a big difference and the extension of the mild temperatures into the spring can also lead to early melting of the snowpack."

The key measure of its strength has now crossed that threshold and will continue to soar higher. As a refresher: El Niño is characterized by warmer-than-average water temperatures along the equator in the Pacific Ocean.

Still affected by El Niño, 2016 was even hotter, holding the all-time record until 2023. One might assume that a warming planet would super-charge ENSO, leading to more intense cycles, but scientists aren’t entirely certain how much climate change influences El Niño.

"Super El Niño" events, officially called very strong El Niño events, are climatic phenomena resulting from the average sea surface temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean rising by 2° Celsius or more. Climate impacts from Super El Nino events can include widespread and severe flooding, ...