2026 El Niño Sets New 170-Year Temperature Record and Continues Rising

Measurements this year show the El Niño reaching 3.05 °C above normal, eclipsing the 2015 record of 3.02 °C and marking the highest ocean anomaly in more than 170 years. Jeff Berardelli highlighted the unprecedented nature of the event and noted two months remain for further intensification. NOAA, which declared the El Niño’s development three months earlier, expects the pattern to peak later this year and begin a slow decline in the spring.

Ken Graham of the National Weather Service emphasized that stronger sea-surface temperatures amplify the climate system’s impact on global weather. In the United States, the phenomenon typically brings cooler, wetter conditions to the South and warmer, drier weather to the North during the fall and winter, affecting precipitation types and storm tracks.