A “Super El Niño” Is Coming - And It Could Trigger Global Climate Chaos

A “Super El Niño” Is Coming - And It Could Trigger Global Climate Chaos

From The World, the Universe and Us by New Scientist

April 20, 2026 · 15 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the impending super El Niño and its potential global climate impacts.

Episode 361 The Earth is about to enter an extremely strong climate phase that could cause major disruption on a planet-wide scale. This “super El Niño” - or “Godzilla El Niño” - threatens to make 2027 the hottest year on record. If it’s as strong as scientists fear, the weather event will bring droughts to some areas of the world and floods to others, causing food shortages and billions of pounds of damage. And with the world already warming faster due to human activity, the effects will only be intensified. To discuss what we can expect from the near future, Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet are joined by New Scientist climate reporter Alec Luhn. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Hosts: Rowan Hooper, Penny Sarchet

Guest: Alec Luhn

Topics covered

  • climate change
  • El Niño
  • global warming
  • weather events
  • food shortages
  • environmental impact

Keywords

  • super El Niño
  • climate chaos
  • global warming
  • droughts
  • floods
  • food shortages
  • 2027

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New Scientist

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