{"id":551683,"date":"2026-04-26T13:37:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/551683\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T13:37:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:37:28","slug":"could-a-super-el-nino-impact-the-uk-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/551683\/","title":{"rendered":"Could a ‘super El Nino’ impact the UK this summer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK could be in for a hot, dry summer as climate scientists predict an El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> could emerge by as early as May this year.<\/p>\n

The incoming pacific weather pattern, which some scientists are branding a \u2018super El Ni\u00f1o\u2019, is expected to supercharge extreme weather events and drive up global temperatures. <\/p>\n

The impacts on the UK are less predictable than other parts of the world, but the El Ni\u00f1o could increase the likelihood of higher temperatures this summer. <\/p>\n

What is the super El Ni\u00f1o?<\/p>\n

The tropical pacific naturally transitions between two warm and cool weather patterns, known as El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

The cooler phase, La Ni\u00f1a, has been dominant since December 2024, however the warmer phase, El Ni\u00f1o is expected to emerge soon.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the World Meteorological Organisation predicted El Ni\u00f1o would return as early as May\u2013July this year. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a period of neutral conditions at the start of the year, climate models are now strongly aligned, and there is high confidence in the onset of El Ni\u00f1o, followed by further intensification in the months that follow,\u201d said Wilfran Moufouma Okia, Chief of Climate Prediction at WMO. <\/p>\n

There are clues that this upcoming El Ni\u00f1o could be a particularly strong event, leading some to brand it a \u2018super El Ni\u00f1o\u2019.<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o is associated with higher global temperatures; 2024 is currently the world\u2019s hottest year on record, which occurred during the last El Ni\u00f1o phase. <\/p>\n

What is the impact on the UK?<\/p>\n

Due to the UK\u2019s distance from the Pacific, the impact of an El Ni\u00f1o is less predictable than in other parts of the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cEl\u202fNi\u00f1o takes place thousands of kilometres away from north\u2011west Europe, so its influence on UK weather is indirect. While there are sometimes links between El\u202fNi\u00f1o events and European weather patterns, these are far from guaranteed,\u201d the Met Office said.<\/p>\n

Typically an El\u202fNi\u00f1o brings warmer and drier conditions to the UK during summer. It also increases the likelihood of colder winters. <\/p>\n

However, many other factors also influence the UK\u2019s weather. Last summer is currently the UK\u2019s hottest year on record, which occurred during a La Ni\u00f1a phase.<\/p>\n

What to know when booking your summer holiday<\/p>\n

An element of uncertainty is hanging over the summer holidays this year as jet fuel shortage<\/a>s lead airlines to cancel flights and increase prices. <\/p>\n

Holidaymakers may also want to consider the potential impact of the El\u202fNi\u00f1o when booking holidays for the rest of this year. <\/p>\n

The UK and Europe are among the parts of the world least impacted by El\u202fNi\u00f1o. However, recent years have shown that extreme heat is a factor holidaymakers should still be considering, particularly when booking summer holidays in the Mediterranean<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Among the popular holiday destinations that are likely to be most impacted by El\u202fNi\u00f1o are South East Asia and Australia, which tend to be drier than normal. This can lead to extreme weather events such as drought and forest fires. <\/p>\n

On the other side of the Pacific, countries in South America can experience much wetter weather, resulting in flooding. <\/p>\n

While the UK won\u2019t be as directly affected, we still experience the impact of extreme weather, for example through increased food prices. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK could be in for a hot, dry summer as climate scientists predict an El Ni\u00f1o could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,5099,90,56,1018,54,55,1068,38791],"class_list":{"0":"post-551683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-extreme-weather","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-uk-weather","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom","15":"tag-weather","16":"tag-weather-forecasts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}