El Niño Forecasts Push Toward Unprecedented Heat, Sparking Food-Security Fears

ECMWF models project a record-strength El Niño peaking this December, potentially pushing temperatures more than 4°C above average and already surpassing prior events in the Pacific; NOAA data shows unusually warm Niño-3.4 conditions and record subsurface heat. The forecasted strength could intensify global heat and extreme weather, and the UN World Food Programme warns it may push tens of millions more people into acute food insecurity by 2027, though such extreme forecasts are unprecedented and not yet validated by historical ensembles.