Analysis: ‘Super El Niño’ reaches ‘remarkable’ all-time record

Sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific now equal the previous daily record set in 2015 and will likely keep rising in the days ahead.

El Niño is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon in the Pacific that reshapes weather patterns around the world and temporarily boosts global temperatures.

The current El Niño event – which has been underway since June and is expected to last until next year – has been developing faster than any previous event on record.

The strength of an event is tracked using the “ Niño 3.4 anomaly ”, which measures how much warmer sea surface temperatures in a section of the central Pacific are than average.

As of 19 September, the daily anomaly in the Niño 3.4 region stands at 3.07C, putting it in a statistical tie with the previous record of 3.08C.