{"id":792010,"date":"2026-10-04T20:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T20:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/792010\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T20:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T20:44:11","slug":"super-el-nino-could-cause-polar-vortex-as-people-warned-to-stockpile-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/792010\/","title":{"rendered":"Super El Nino could cause ‘polar vortex’ as people warned to stockpile food"},"content":{"rendered":"

The current El Ni\u00f1o cycle could lead to a ‘polar vortex’ over the winter due to an unusual phenomenon.<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> is one half the ENSO cycle, which stands for ‘El Ni\u00f1o Southern Oscillation’, and happens when the surface of the Pacific Ocean rises above a certain temperature.<\/p>\n

This has a huge knock on effect on weather<\/a> patterns around the world, with the precise impact of El Ni\u00f1o on the weather depending on the location.<\/p>\n

Strong El Ni\u00f1o can cause widespread destruction, and scientists<\/a> are warning that the current El Ni\u00f1o cycle is the strongest on record.<\/p>\n

It’s so strong in fact that it has been informally referred to as a ‘Super El Ni\u00f1o’, though this is not a formal name, and even a ‘Godzilla’ El Ni\u00f1o by some.<\/p>\n

A separate weather effect could see El Ni\u00f1o being involved in another weather effect, this one in the Arctic.<\/p>\n

The phenomenon is the Arctic polar vortex, which are effectively the winds which circle the North Pole at the top of the globe, creating a vortex effect, Metro<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

Disruption to the polar vortex from the powerful El Ni\u00f1o could make it so that more cold air moves southwards towards Europe and North America.<\/p>\n

\"ElEl Ni\u00f1o can have a wide ranging impact depending on location<\/p>\n

That potentially creates an increased chance of heavy snow and blizzard conditions in those regions as the impact of El Ni\u00f1o begins to take effect, potentially creating a colder winter.<\/p>\n

A weakening of a polar vortex which can be associated with El Ni\u00f1o sometimes leads to colder north easterly and northern winds to overpower the warmer North Atlantic drift that has a big impact on the weather in the UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to the risk of blizzards, the effect ‘heightens the potential’ of rainy weather and stormy conditions, which in turn could also lead to a higher risk of flooding.<\/p>\n

Met Office climate<\/a> spokesperson Grahame Madge said: “The El Ni\u00f1o event is still developing in the tropical Pacific and already it has surpassed the magnitude of previous events including the one in 2015\/16.<\/p>\n

“Globally, an El Ni\u00f1o event has several impacts, including altering rainfall patterns and increasing global temperature overall.”<\/p>\n

\"ElEl Ni\u00f1o hinges on the Pacific Ocean (Getty Stock)<\/p>\n

It comes as the UK government has issued statements warning brits to stock up on essential items in the home, such as tinned food and supplied of light and heat in the event of power cuts.<\/p>\n

The UK has already seen record highs in temperature over the summer, and the impact of El Ni\u00f1o has led scientists to warn that 2027 is likely to be even hotter than 2026.<\/p>\n

One report even suggested that there could be in excess of 450,000 deaths related to heat between June 2026 and February 2027 as a result of the impact of El Ni\u00f1o.<\/p>\n

Professor Michael Greenstone is from the University of Chicago, and co-authored that report.<\/p>\n

“The estimate of 451,000 people is such a large number that it can be numbing, but it is made up of parents and children, grandparents and neighbours, people going to work<\/a>, caring for families, and living their lives,” said Prof Greenstone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The current El Ni\u00f1o cycle could lead to a ‘polar vortex’ over the winter due to an unusual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[121825,1397,90,56,54,55,1068,231],"class_list":["post-792010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-el-nino","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-weather","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792010","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=792010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}