NASA satellite spots strongest sign of Super El Nino, confirming all predictions - What to expect?

Super El Niño is certain to happen now, NASA has confirmed. The American space agency said that a swell of warm water hundreds of kilometres wide was spotted in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of South America, via satellite images. Experts say this is a sure-shot sign that Super El Niño will arrive later this year. Previously, climatologists had flagged the possibility of a monster El Niño arriving this year, which will be nothing like ever seen in the past decades. It is predicted to be on the same scale as the one seen in 1877, the worst one ever recorded since data keeping started. Scientists say the upcoming Super El Niño will be like looking into the future 10 years later. NASA said in a statement, "Waves of higher, warmer water move eastward across the Pacific Ocean a few months before an El Niño emerges. Several have shown up in 2026 satellite data." The data was captured by the Sentinel–6 Michael Freilich satellite launched in 2020.

El Niño cycle is a common weather system where strong trade winds, instead of moving east to west, start flowing in the opposite direction. Instead of pushing warm surface water away from South America toward Asia and Australia, it causes it to slosh and pool back eastward towards South America. This temporary disruption to Earth's normal ocean and atmospheric systems occurs every two to seven years.

What NASA satellite saw about El Niño

NASA and other agencies have started noticing signs of one of the strongest El Niño patterns ever recorded. The phenomenon will affect every part of the world, with global average temperatures expected to rise by 3°C this summer. Besides the extreme heat, Super El Niño will also bring extreme rain and flooding to some parts. The NASA satellite tracks warm Kelvin waves to finds signs of an impending El Niño. Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, lead program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said, "Sentinel–6 Michael Freilich can track massive Kelvin waves as they cross the Pacific, capture changes in Earth's ocean thermodynamics, improve forecasts of weather extremes, and help communities prepare for potential coastal hazards."

World Meteorological Organization issues warning about El Niño - "World needs to prepare"

A new WMO El Niño/La Niña Update this week stated that there is an 80 per cent likelihood of an El Niño event during June–August 2026. "“The science is clear: El Niño is arriving on our doorstep in the coming months with 90% certainty. The world must treat it as the urgent climate warning it is. El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world. Impacts will hit even harder, travel even farther, and cross borders with devastating speed," it said in a statement. Talking about what to expect, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said, “We need to prepare for a potentially strong El Niño event, which will exacerbate drought and heavy rainfall and increase the risk of heatwaves both on land and in the ocean."

What NASA said about Kelvin Waves

NASA explains that El Niño develops when multiple Kelvin waves appear over several months, and the warm water accumulates off the shores of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The first Kelvin wave this year was seen in January around Micronesia and lasted a few weeks. Then a new wave formed in March. "While this year's event started a bit later than the big El Niños of 2015 and 1997, it's beginning to catch up," Josh Willis, a sea level researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said.

Western North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, North Africa, and most parts of Asia will see extreme temperatures. Warmer–than–normal conditions can be expected in the Southern Hemisphere also.