NEW YORK (AGENCIES)
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned of a late summer and an exceptionally hot autumn across the Northern Hemisphere as the El Niño climate phenomenon intensifies, while the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) expects the event to strengthen further in the coming months.
Speaking in New York on Friday, Guterres said that El Niño "is not just at our doorstep – it is already in the house and making the heat worse."
He added, "What we are witnessing now is only the beginning. El Niño is intensifying and adding more fuel to a planet already burning from extreme heat domes, devastating wildfires and record-breaking ocean temperatures."
The WMO said that El Niño, together with already elevated ocean temperatures and other climate patterns in the Indian Ocean, will influence global weather patterns during the second half of the year.
The organisation added that the climatic disruptions are expected to peak in November.