El Nino is here and scientists fear it'll be big, bad and costly with heat, floods, droughts, fires

📌 Summary:

• An El Nino — a natural warming of the Pacific Ocean — has formed and is forecast to grow to historic strength (announced June 11, 2026)
• It will add to warming already driven by fossil-fuel pollution and likely turbocharge extreme weather across the planet
• Forecasters say it may rival or exceed the record 1997 El Nino, which helped trigger billions of dollars in damage through heat waves, floods, droughts, tornadoes and wildfires
• For India, a strong El Nino typically threatens the southwest monsoon and, in turn, agricultural output and food prices

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS1 — climatology and ocean-atmosphere interactions; GS3 — monsoon and agriculture impact.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• El Nino = warm phase of ENSO (El Nino–Southern Oscillation) in the equatorial Pacific
• Often correlated with a weaker Indian southwest monsoon
• The 1997 El Nino is used as a record benchmark event

🔑 Key Term: El Nino — a periodic warming of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific that disrupts global weather, often weakening India's monsoon.