# Met Office warns of most intense El Nino in over a century 2026-08-21T22:41:53+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets The UK Met Office has warned that this year's El Nino is on track to become the most powerful in over a century, with Pacific waters expected to heat up more than 3 degrees Celsius above normal. Adam Scaife, head of long-range forecasting at the Met Office, said the event is "unprecedented" and could push 2027 past 2024 as the hottest year ever recorded globally. The forecast, reported by NDTV and Hindustan Times, shows the event on course to peak at a 3.9 degrees Celsius anomaly this November. For India, the implications are severe. Hindustan Times reports that El Nino is already depressing the monsoon, with the India Meteorological Department projecting the full season at 90 percent of the long-period average, its lowest in 11 years. Experts cited by the outlet warn the impact could extend across two crop seasons, affecting both the current Rabi output and 2027 harvests. The Met Office said the event is already causing well below normal rainfall in India. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both NDTV and Hindustan Times rely on the same Met Office data and official quotes, producing near-identical wire-style coverage. NDTV leads with the global intensity of the event, while Hindustan Times adds an India-specific framing, detailing impacts on the monsoon, Rabi crop and 2027 temperatures through multiple expert quotes. The measured read: the Met Office forecast is stark but carries the caveat that these are long-term projections, not short-term weather forecasts. The key number to watch is the November sea-surface temperature anomaly of 3.9 degrees Celsius, which will determine if this event truly breaks records. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - ndtv.com (neutral report) Leads with Met Office global intensity warning, no India-specific framing added - hindustantimes.com (neutral report) Adds India-specific impacts on monsoon and agriculture through expert quotes This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-22T01:36:30+00:00. Tags: El Nino, India Meteorological Department, UK Met Office Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/uk-met-office-warns-of-most-intense-el-nino-in-over-a-century/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/uk-met-office-warns-of-most-intense-el-nino-in-over-a-century/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/