Australia faces scorching summer with El Nino to last until 2024

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released the latest “hot” announcement — El Nino is here to stay for a long time.

The ongoing El Nino weather pattern is likely to last all the way through to April 2024, bringing forward a scorching summer in a year already on track to be the hottest on record.

Temperatures are expected to soar from November all the way until January.

WMO predicts there’s a 90 per cent likelihood of the weather pattern staying through to winter — totalling to up to six months worth of El Nino.

El Nino is the polar opposite climate event of La Nina, which Australia went through for three consecutive years, as it brought cool temperatures and record-breaking rain.

A spike in temperatures is expected worldwide with Australia to cop the worst of it.

During El Nino summer days tend to be significantly hotter, this especially impacting southern Australia.

In northern Australia, multi-day heatwaves are likely to occur.

“As a result of record high land and sea-surface temperatures since June, the year 2023 is now on track to be the warmest year on record. Next year may be even warmer,” said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas.

The previous warmest year on record was 2016 due to a combination of an exceptionally strong El Nino and climate change.

The phenomenon is already spurring calamities across the globe, as Australia recorded the driest October in more than 20 years affected by the El Nino weather pattern which has seen hot and dry conditions significantly hit crop yields.

“Extreme events such as heatwaves, drought, wildfires, heavy rain and floods will be enhanced in some regions, with major impacts,” Prof. Taalas said.

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El Nino is expected to fuel further temperature increases, significantly raising the risk of a devastating bushfire season across Australia.

This year, Australia will experience El Nino in combination with another climate driver, a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). This will lead to a further increase to the weather conditions initially brought forward by El Nino.

El Nino occurs on average every two to seven years, and typically last nine to 12 months.

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