UN warns of 'very strong' El Nino this year, carrying threat of severe weather

LONDON -- El Nino is forecast to become "very strong" in the coming months, raising the risk of extreme weather into 2027, the World Meteorological Organization said on Thursday.

"El Niño is being supersized before our eyes," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. "The science leaves no room for doubt: the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up."

The WMO, a U.N. agency, said that sea surface temperatures are rising and temperatures keep climbing. In August, global sea surface temperatures reached an all-time high, according to data analyzed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service

The U.S.'s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also warned in August of a potentially very strong El Nino, which is a warmer-than-average phase of the El Nino--Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a natural cycle where sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean rise and fall.

NOAA ranks the strength of El Nino events by measuring the sea surface temperature departure from average (anomaly) across this region, classifying events as weak, moderate, strong or very strong.

The WMO said on Thursday that El Nino, which was being fueled by "exceptionally warm ocean conditions across the tropical Pacific," would intensify in the coming months, bringing with it "big impacts" on rainfall and temperature patterns associated with floods, droughts and extreme heat.

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"El Niño is firmly established and will intensify into a very strong event in the coming months," the WMO said on Thursday in a press release. "WMO forecasts show ~100% likelihood that it will persist through February 2027."

El Nino has the ability to "reshape" weather and climate thousands of miles from the tropical Pacific, WMO said, adding that it and its partners would "therefore continue to closely monitor the evolution of the event and regularly update forecasts of its likely regional impacts."

Guterres added that the "world is in the danger zone of extreme weather," adding, "The race now is between rising risks and our commitment to take climate action and protect people. We must win that race."

ABC News' Dan Peck contributed to this report.