El Niño 'supersized' as countries race to prepare for extreme weather, UN warns - BBC News BBC Homepage Skip to content Accessibility Help Your account Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds More menu More menu Search BBC Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds Close menu BBC News Menu Home Climate World UK Business Tech Science Entertainment & Arts Health In Pictures More BBC Verify Newsbeat UN warns of 'supersized' El Niño as countries prepare for impact Image source, Luis Tato/AFP/Getty Images Image caption, Countries in East Africa, like Kenya, experienced intense rainfall during the last El Niño event By Esme Stallard , senior climate and science reporter , Mark Poynting and Becky Dale , BBC Verify  and  Yvette Tan, Tiffanie Turnbull and Nikita Yadav Published 3 September 2026 The world has entered a "danger zone of extreme weather" as the impacts of El Niño start to be felt globally, UN head António Guterres has warned. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released the latest data on the natural weather phenomenon showing it could be the strongest for more than 70 years and last until at least February 2027. El Niño changes weather patterns around the world, pushing some regions into drought whilst others experience stronger typhoons and flooding. Forecasters also say El Niño will boost temperatures in some places, coming on top of rising heat globally from human-induced climate change. "El Niño is being supersized before our eyes. The science leaves no room for doubt: the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up," Guterres said. The BBC spoke with governments and scientists about the measures being taken globally to reduce the risk of deaths, displacement and environmental damage. Early warning systems have been strengthened and deployment of pre-emptive medical assistance, but the strength of this particular event has raised seri