El Niño (El Niño) has been intensifying for several months and has had a major impact on global weather patterns.
Countries such as Indonesia, India and the United States are experiencing droughts, floods and heat waves, consistent with predictions that these phenomena will exacerbate extreme weather events.
The United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) stated that this record-breaking El Niño phenomenon will further intensify and last until at least 2027.
Here are five ways its impact is already being felt around the world.
Strong typhoon hits eastern China and Japan
To the west of the Pacific, storm seasons have been quite active in eastern China and Japan, with storms including Maysak and Dujuan recently bringing widespread flooding and landslides.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, 10 tropical cyclones have formed in the northwest Pacific, the highest number in a single wind season since 1966.
During El Niño, the warmer Pacific changes wind patterns, meaning cyclones tend to form further east, away from Japan and eastern China.
However, this also means that the storm has a longer distance and more time to gain energy from warm water and intensify into a more powerful typhoon before making landfall.
Scientists believe that more typhoons may develop this year and may further affect Japan or East China.
Indonesia faces worst wildfire season since 2015
Indonesia, which typically experiences drier and hotter El Niño years, is facing its worst wildfire season since 2015.
This year, at least 895,657 hectares of land have been burned since January, an area almost six times the size of Greater London.
That's more than twice the area burned last year without El Niño's influence.
Wildfires have caused school closures in many parts of Indonesia and increased the number of hospitalizations.
Millions of people in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Borneo, Borneo) have been exposed to toxic haze from wildfires, and about 175,000 people have suffered from respiratory diseases.
More than 40,000 cases have involved young children, with conditions ranging from coughs and bronchitis to more serious illnesses such as pneumonia.
Eastern Pacific hurricane activity surges
In the eastern Pacific, where El Niño typically enhances hurricane activity, the wind season has been active so far this year.
There have been 22 named storms and 12 hurricanes in the area, including 10 severe hurricanes.
This number exceeds the total that would normally occur throughout an average wind season, which is still two months away from ending.
Here, El Niño brings warmer ocean temperatures and weaker winds aloft, making storms more likely to intensify.
Hurricane Polo is one example.
The hurricane experienced rapid intensification, with wind gusts reaching 180 miles (285 kilometers per hour), driven by extremely warm waters caused by El Niño.
Polo was also one of three hurricanes operating in the same sea area at the same time, the other two being Odalys and Nolo.
Furthermore, this has happened twice within a month.
In early September this year, the energy generated by abnormally high sea temperatures caused three hurricanes to appear simultaneously in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean: Lowell, Karina, and Marie.
Before this year, the last time there were three hurricanes in the Pacific at the same time was in 2015.
Atlantic hurricane season unusually quiet
Meanwhile, the Atlantic Ocean was unusually calm.
El Niño tends to enhance wind shear in the North Atlantic, which weakens storm structure and limits storm formation.
Only one hurricane so far - Isaias - has struck the Florida Panhandle and Alabama.
This is the latest hurricane to form in the satellite record era (since the 1960s).
Before this year, the latest record for a hurricane to form was September 11, set in 2002 and 2013.
In an average wind season, there are usually 10 named storms, five hurricanes and two severe hurricanes so far.
However, there have been only eight tropical storms so far this year: Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo and Hanna.
Reduced monsoon rainfall in India threatens agriculture
Drier and warmer weather patterns have also emerged in India, where vital monsoon rainfall is 13% below average.
This puts agricultural production under greater pressure and vulnerability.
