Global weather body predicts 60% chance of developing La Nia

The 2023/24 El Nio event, which drove record-breaking temperatures and extreme weather around the world, is predicted to transition to La Nia conditions later this year, according to a new update from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The world experienced the warmest April ever and the eleventh consecutive month of record-high temperatures. Sea surface temperatures have been record-high for the past 13 months, according to the WMO.

The WMO said this is happening due to the naturally occurring El Nio unusual warming of waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean and the additional energy trapped in the atmosphere and ocean by greenhouse gases from human activities.

Amid a prevailing but weakening El Nio, millions of people in South Asia, including India and Pakistan, endured brutal heat in April and May.

The latest forecasts from the WMO Global Producing Centres of Long-Range Forecasts give equal chances (50 per cent) of either neutral conditions or a transition to La Nia during June-August.