The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has stated that the intense El Niño weather phenomenon is already in place in the tropical region of the Pacific Ocean. According to forecasts, it may grow even more intense in the latter part of 2026, with about half of the weather models predicting that this El Niño would become one of the most extreme instances in history since 1950. Triggered by warming water at the ocean's surface, the El Niño effect will result in intense weather conditions across the globe, characterized by heavy rainfall in the Americas and extremely hot and dry weather conditions in Asia and Australia. Due to the strong connection between the El Niño effect and lower rainfall during winter and spring, the effect poses an imminent danger to food production and trade in crops such as wheat and beef as well as sugar cane.