El Nino

A stronger El Niño could worsen dry conditions across northern India, while a positive Indian Ocean Dipole and cyclonic activity may offer limited rainfall relief to the southern peninsula

Pune ordered a citywide water supply shutdown every Thursday and banned the use of drinking water for construction and vehicle washing as the state prepares for prolonged water stress

WMO says El Nino is strengthening rapidly and has a near-100% chance of persisting through February 2027, raising risks of heat, drought and ecological damage in India.

This year's southwest monsoon has ended with a 13% deficit over the long-period average, and India is still bracing for the full impact of a 'super', or 'Godzilla', El Niño

Rice yields have fallen after erratic monsoon rains, while higher farm input costs threaten rural incomes and spending during the key wedding and festival season

IMD forecast says October rainfall is also likely to stay below normal, while El Niño is set to peak in November

Chouhan says five states impacted due to drought conditions in 2026 kharif season

The central and eastern equatorial Pacific started to show El Nino ‌conditions in May, and ​sea surface ​temperature indices have risen rapidly, officials of the ​National Climate Centre said.

Minister Chouhan says teams to visit Maharashtra & Karnataka soon to assess the drought impact

The upcoming rabi (winter) season is likely to be challenging for rainfed areas due to the El Nino weather pattern, and foodgrain production could be affected, Agriculture Secretary Atish Chandra said on Monday. Addressing a two-day national conference on preparedness for the rabi season, Chandra said the kharif season was also very challenging, particularly in rainfed areas. Several States struggled first to achieve crop coverage and later to ensure that the crops survived. Sowing of rabi crops such as wheat and mustard begins in October. "We are seeing that in the coming season, production is likely to be affected to a large extent. And the rabi season will also be challenging for the rainfed areas," he said. Chandra said some states could face the problem of excess soil moisture, while areas with deficient rainfall may see prolonged periods of stress. Strategies need to be calibrated accordingly for the rabi season, he added. Calling climate change a reality, he said even irri

The El Nino weather pattern is strengthening and is likely to become "very strong" in late 2026 and early 2027, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) at Columbia University said, raising concerns over elevated climate risk for India. In its latest ENSO forecast, published on September 21, the IRI said the Nino 3.4 index, a key gauge of Pacific Ocean temperatures, reached +3.0 degrees Celsius in mid-September. All 22 models it surveyed, 13 dynamical and nine statistical, forecast "very strong" El Nino conditions through the 2026-27 winter. The IRI put the probability of El Nino at 100 per cent through February 2027, falling to 61 per cent by mid-2027. It said the event could rank among the strongest on record. The institute also expects the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) to become strongly positive from September through December 2026 before returning toward neutral conditions in early 2027. A positive IOD often occurs alongside El Nino, though the two can ..

The lender, which has approved $13.8 billion in financing for India, is looking to fund more water infrastructure and policy reforms as monsoon rainfall deficit widens

The University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute's report that claimed that the 'super El Nino' might cause around 15,800 additional heat-related deaths in India over the next six months, was measured using two components, seasonal temperature forecasts, and temperature-mortality relationships, a co-author of the study said. Emily Grover-Kopec, a co-author, told PTI that temperature-mortality relationships were assessed using "one of the most commonly referenced seasonal forecasts" from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF SEAS5). The recently published report claimed that the climate phenomenon could push global land temperatures 1.2 degrees Celsius above normal in the coming months, resembling the higher temperatures that climate change is projected to deliver in the next 20 years. "When considering a wide suite of seasonal forecasts that are available, the ECMWF SEAS sits in the middle in terms of the projected temperature anomalies, so this presents a

The developing climate pattern could intensify heat stress worldwide, adding pressure on health systems and vulnerable communities

Cumulative rainfall during the June to September monsoon season is 15% below the long-term average so far, according to the India Meteorological Department

Fuel and fertiliser disruptions from the Iran war, alongside El Niño-linked weather extremes, are threatening crops and could worsen food inflation across vulnerable Asian economies

Gross sugar production will range from 29 million tons to 31 million tons in the year through September 2027, according to estimates from 11 traders, analysts and millers

Food inflation could remain elevated through the festive season as uneven monsoon rains, kharif crop uncertainties, El Nino risks and higher global food prices put pressure on household budgets

The prevailing El Nino conditions over the equatorial Pacific are most likely to intensify into a very strong event in the coming months and persist through February 2027, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said. It said this could have substantial impacts on rainfall and temperature patterns and the associated risks of floods, drought and extreme heat. In a statement on Thursday, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said, "El Nino in Spanish means boy child but it has the potential to deliver a massive blow to communities and economies across the world. "We are already seeing disruption and devastation from droughts and floods, and we expect these impacts to increase as El Nino intensifies." The WMO projections came just days after the India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its forecast for September, said that El Nino conditions could persist till February next year. El Nino is one of the three phases of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) a climate phenomenon .

"If this trajectory continues, it may ​be stronger than anything since our monitoring began. So literally off the charts," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo told a Geneva press conference.