Ireland may have to brace for ‘off the charts’ weather events as the phenomenon known as Super El Niño continues to ‘supercharge’ the climate.
Experts from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) have warned that the extreme phenomenon has already been linked to record-breaking global temperatures, melting ice caps, and rising sea levels.
They have also said that El Niño will bring even hotter temperatures and more extreme conditions well into 2027.
The Cop31 global climate summit has gotten underway in Turkey, with the WMO sharing a harrowing State of the Climate update.
It showed that this year has continued a ‘protracted streak of exceptional global temperatures’, with glaciers melting at a rate that would fill five Olympic-size swimming pools every second.
WMO secretary general Celeste Saulo said: ‘El Niño and indeed the state of the global climate in 2026 gives new meaning to the phrase off the charts.
‘We are supercharging our weather and El Niño will be a risk multiplier.
‘Heatwaves, tropical cyclones and rainstorms are intensifying faster than our historical baselines prepared us for.’
The report showed that from January to September this year, the global average surface temperature was about 1.47C above the pre-industrial average.
It added that the past 12 years have individually been the warmest on record, with the last four at the top.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated: ‘We have entered a new age of climate extremes.
‘A supersized El Niño is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change.
‘Climate records keep falling. The human costs keep rising. And those least responsible are suffering first and worst.
‘Leaders must get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need.’
While El Niño is expected to lead to disastrous events in some parts of the world, Met Éireann has explained that its immediate effect on Ireland is set to be ‘comparatively weak’.
The national forecaster said: ‘While El Niño has clear impacts on many regions worldwide through teleconnections (for example affecting monsoon systems), its influence on Ireland and Europe is comparatively weak, highly variable, and not robust in the present-day climate.’
However, it warned that the way things are going, Ireland will be faced with tougher conditions in a couple of decades’ time.
Met Éireann added: ‘In a future warmer climate, El Niño may have a greater influence on Irish and European climate according to recent studies, but that would only materialise in the second half of this century under higher greenhouse gas scenarios.’
