Chico Harlan predicts the 2026 El Niño will become the largest on record by the time it peaks.
“this El Nino is already big in August. Already big enough that if this was its December size, its full grown size, it would already be one of the biggest on record. So what has scientists kind of alarmed, I think you can say, is that it still has months more to grow. And it feels like all but an inevitability to them at this point that by the time it's done growing, it will be the largest on record.”
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Our resolution criterion
disputableBy end of 2026 or early 2027, meteorological records confirm whether 2026 El Niño ranks as largest on record (dating back approximately 80 years of measured data).
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