What made this El Niño the strongest on record — SkimNews
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- The current El Niño is already the strongest on record months before its expected peak, prompting scientists to deploy terms like "mind-blowing," "Godzilla-level," and "off the charts"
- A rare three-year La Niña — a "triple dip" lasting far beyond the typical 9-12 months — piled up an unusually large, hot warm pool in the western Pacific, raising sea levels as much as 20 centimetres
- Strong westerly wind bursts triggered Kelvin waves that cumulatively deepened the eastern Pacific thermocline by more than 80 metres in some areas, preventing cold water from welling up to the surface
- Three simultaneous tropical cyclones in the western Pacific in April drove one particularly powerful wind burst, with their rotation pushing winds eastward along the equator to reinforce the nascent El Niño
- Michael McPhaden at NOAA noted that despite the western Pacific's late-2025 heat content not being the highest on record, the event still became exceptionally strong — meaning wind bursts did disproportionate work
- Whether global warming is intensifying El Niños remains an open question, according to Michael Mann at the University of Pennsylvania; climate models are "nearly equally split" on whether amplitude will rise or fall with anthropogenic warming
- Mann warned the super El Niño will drive a major spike in global warming, offering "a glimpse of what is coming down the pike" if carbon pollution continues — with hotter continents, bigger floods, and worse wildfires
Why it matters: This super El Niño is a real-world stress test of a warming planet: with the eastern Pacific thermocline more than 80 metres deeper than normal and stupendous heat transferring to the atmosphere, Mann says it previews "what is coming down the pike" for vulnerable populations worldwide — bigger floods, hotter continents, and more destructive wildfires if carbon pollution continues unabated.
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