WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo urged health officials Monday to build weather forecasts into public-health decisions, as the agency expects El Niño to continue into early 2027.
Saulo made the appeal at the U.N. climate conference COP31 in Antalya, where the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its State of the Climate Update 2026. The outlook projects the current El Niño could reach record strength by December. WMO puts global surface temperatures for January through September at 1.47°C above the 1850-1900 preindustrial reference. El Niño’s effect on annual global temperatures usually peaks about a year after the pattern develops.
The update warns that weather extremes could worsen heat illness and air quality, contribute to food insecurity and alter disease risks. It names cholera, malaria and dengue among the diseases of concern. The report also says the World Health Organization (WHO) classified the anticipated health impacts as a health emergency for the first time.
Teresa Zakaria, WHO Unit Head for Risk Reduction, Humanitarian Operations and Climate Change, said climate shocks can weigh most heavily where health systems are weak and access to care is limited. Food insecurity, displacement and humanitarian crises can add to that burden, she said.
WMO also cited preliminary estimates putting Europe’s excess deaths associated with heat waves, drought and fires above 30,000. Its count of countries reporting multi-hazard early warning systems reached 136 in 2025, compared with 56 in 2015.
El Niño is part of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a climate pattern centered in the Pacific. Its effects vary across regions: some become wetter or cooler, while others face hotter or drier conditions, as EconoTimes has previously explained.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has scheduled its next ENSO diagnostic discussion for Thursday, Nov. 12.
