This Year's Super El Niño Is Far Beyond Anything Scientists Have Seen Before: “We're In Uncharted Territory"

2026's El Niño is on course to be the most severe on record, even hotter than the 1997/98 event that caused trillions in damage and thousands of deaths. An El Niño event like nothing we’ve ever seen before is cooking in the Pacific. Its mounting strength is so unprecedented that climate scientists aren't even sure what impact it will have when it hits full tilt, but they say this “uncharted territory” should be a cause for concern. What is El Niño? And why is 2026 so weird? El Niño is a climate phenomenon characterized by warmer ocean temperatures across the...