'Godzilla' El Niño: 3.6°C Temperature Rise Predicted
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- El Niño, nicknamed 'Godzilla' for its predicted intensity, could raise global temperatures by up to 3.6°C and potentially deliver the hottest year on record
- Climate scientists told The Guardian that pairing the weather phenomenon with the ongoing climate crisis poses a huge threat to the planet
- Damien Gayle, The Guardian's environment correspondent, hosted the video explainer breaking down how El Niño and human-driven warming interact
- The Earth keeps getting hotter, with experts framing this year's event as a compounding risk layered onto an already-rising temperature baseline
Why it matters: A 3.6°C spike layered onto an already-warming Earth isn't just a record — it functions as a real-world stress test on agriculture, infrastructure, and public health systems already straining under baseline climate change, according to the scientists cited.
