'Supersized' El Niño expected, raising extreme weather risks: UN weather agency

Now, speaking of extreme weather, the United Nations is warning the world is waiting into a danger zone with a supercharged El Nino. New data shows the climate phenomenon could be the strongest in decades, raising the risks of extreme weather into next year. And the CBC's Mark Carcassol has more details on what is the data from the U. N. Telling us Andrew, this could potentially be the strongest El Nino since the 19 fifties. It's something that comes around every two to seven years. It usually lasts about 9 to 12 months. But the U. N. Officials at the World Meteorological Organization are saying that this particular case of it, while it is expected to peak by the end of the year, could still show the effects and impacts early into next year, sometime into February of next year. And the impacts are many. We'll get to that in a moment. But just more on what the W. M. O. Is calling this particular El Nino. They say it is supersized. It will peak, but again, have impacts that last for several months into the new year. They say that the world has essentially entered a danger zone when it comes to extreme weather. Because the issue here is that when you couple climate change with the warming effect in the Pacific Ocean of El Nino, it packs a double punch, as explained by Theodore Keeping. He is a climate scientist at Imperial College. We've always experienced these El Nino driven extremes. The difference today is because of climate change. We've also shifted into a new climate. And so an extreme El Nino year mean plus climate change means that we're much more likely to experience these sorts of unprecedented weather events than an El Nino by itself before climate change. Many climate scientists like Keeping are not quite sure how El Nino will adjust to the warming climate in the years to come, whether we can at this point ever go back to the way things were. But they do worry about the impact on many nations, which are less developed than, say, a Canada, which have fewer resources to deal with infrastructure that is not meant to deal with severe weather. And, of course, various vulnerable populations that live in many of those communities. They say that more nations have to start planning and moving resources around to deal with the impact of the coming storms, droughts and various other impacts. So according to the U. N. What are the potential effects that are coming? And are we already starting to see them in some places? We've definitely already seen them over the course of this El Nino, and they are many environmental impacts, economic impacts as well. For example, in Central America, many crops have already reportedly been labeled as failed, which means there is less food of whatever was in those crops to go around, which raises food prices. Many parts of the Pacific Ocean, where El Nino focuses, have had surface temperatures well over two degrees Celsius above average and are expected to get close to four degrees Celsius above average. And that's just on the surface. As Celeste Salo, the W. M. O. Secretary General, tells us temperatures below the surface of the Pacific are even more concerning. Subsurface ocean temperatures are also exceptionally high, and in some areas more than eight degrees Celsius above normal during July and early August. This means that this there is a huge pool of very warm ocean waters that will fuel the intensity of El Nino. And it's not just the Pacific, either. There are above normal temperatures in waters in several other parts of the world. The Indian Ocean, tropical Atlantic around parts of the Australian coast, which creates major concern for sea life, drought conditions, changes in rainfall patterns expected over the course of this El Nino in places like Southeast Asia, Central America. Those can exacerbate wildfires in many parts of the world as well. More typhoons can be expected in the worst case scenario. Greater chances of flooding and landslides everywhere from eastern Africa, parts of South America, even the southern U. S. According to this report. All right, lots to watch for Mark. Thank you. CBC's Mark Carcassol.