DistantNews
Support us
🇮🇹 Italy /Environment & Climate

UN warns that El Niño is pushing the planet into a climate danger zone

From ANSA · () Italian

Translated from Italian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that a very strong El Niño is pushing the planet into a danger zone of extreme weather.
  • The World Meteorological Organization expects El Niño to persist until February, adding heat to an atmosphere already warming because of global warming.
  • Scientists linked the warming Pacific to three hurricanes, while droughts, floods, fires and food insecurity could worsen worldwide.

“El Niño is assuming gigantic proportions,” António Guterres warned. “The science leaves no room for doubt: the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up.” With temperatures continuing to rise, the UN secretary-general said the world had entered a danger zone for extreme weather.

El Niño is assuming gigantic proportions. The science leaves no room for doubt: the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up. Temperatures continue to rise and the world is in the danger zone of extreme weather conditions.

· António GuterresThe UN secretary-general warned about the scale of El Niño and its contribution to extreme weather.

The World Meteorological Organization expects El Niño to become very intense and almost certainly continue until February. Celeste Saulo, the agency's secretary-general, said the phenomenon could deliver a devastating blow to communities and economies worldwide. Droughts and floods are already causing disruption and destruction, she said, and those impacts are expected to grow as El Niño strengthens.

The WMO has launched an unusually broad mobilization with national meteorological and hydrological services, which provide forecasts and other services intended to protect lives and livelihoods. “There is no time to lose,” Saulo said.

El Niño has the potential to deliver a devastating blow to communities and economies around the world.

· Celeste SauloThe World Meteorological Organization secretary-general described the expected global effects of the phenomenon.

The warming caused by El Niño is already being linked to worsening wildfires in Indonesia and weaker monsoon rains in India. Australia faces a higher risk of fires, while South America could see more intense flooding. The World Food Programme said in August that El Niño could push about 50 million people into acute hunger.

There has never before, in the WMO's 50-year history, been a mobilization of this scale with national meteorological and hydrological services, which are on the front line in providing forecasts and services to save lives and livelihoods. There is no time to lose.

· Celeste SauloSaulo described the agency's response to the expected intensification of El Niño.

Three hurricanes were also moving across the Pacific. Tropical Storm Marie became a hurricane off Baja California, following Category 4 hurricanes Karina and Lowell. Julia Cole, a climatologist at the University of Michigan, called three simultaneous hurricanes “definitely a rare event.”

Three hurricanes are definitely a rare event.

· Julia ColeThe University of Michigan climatologist commented on the three hurricanes forming in the Pacific.
About this summary

Originally published by ANSA in Italian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog