South Africa Warns of Record El Niño Threatening Hot, Dry Summer

The South African Weather Service warned on Tuesday that a potentially record-breaking El Niño event is developing in the Pacific Ocean, threatening to bring significantly hotter and drier conditions to most of South Africa from October 2026 through January 2027. The agency stated that the current El Niño could become the strongest in living memory, raising concerns about severe heatwaves, drought, and water scarcity. El Niño is a natural climate pattern characterized by unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the eastern-central tropical Pacific Ocean. According to the weather service, a strong El Niño is defined by sea surface temperatures at least 1.