El Niño has strengthened to strongest on record, Japan weather agency says
Marcus Chen
Managing Editor · Friday, October 9, 2026 at 5:38 AM · 1 min read
TOKYO, Oct 9 (Reuters) The El Niño phenomenon has strengthened to its strongest on record since September, Japan s weather bureau said on Friday, adding that there was a 100% chance the conditions will continue into the Northern hemisphere winter. The sea surface temperature anomaly in the El Niño monitoring region was plus 4.0 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in September, the highest since records began in 1949, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)