Mild El Ni\u00f1o climatic conditions brewing in the Pacific Ocean will strengthen throughout the year, with an outside chance of a record-breaking event that will further turbocharge already sweltering temperatures around the globe, scientists have forecast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last month saw a \u201cweak\u201d El Ni\u00f1o form, a periodic climatic event where the circulation of the equatorial Pacific Ocean shifts and its temperature rises, causing knock-on heat around the world, according to an update<\/a> from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).<\/p>\n\n\n\n This Ni\u00f1o, which has replaced a three-year period of its reverse condition, La Ni\u00f1a, which typically cools the globe, will almost certainly strengthen throughout the year, with an 81% chance it will peak with a \u201cmoderate to strong intensity\u201d between November and January, Noaa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a one-in-five chance that this event will be of \u201chistoric\u201d strength, rivaling the major one experienced in 1997, Noaa said. Even if the record is not threatened, however, \u201cEl Ni\u00f1os tend to elevate global mean temperatures, so I would not expect this event to be an exception,\u201d said Michelle L\u2019Heureux, a Noaa meteorologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The developing event has been closely watched by scientists as it is compounding the excess heat spurred by human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels. Last week was, preliminary data suggests, the hottest week ever reliably recorded, following a June that was the hottest ever documented globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 100 million people in the US are currently under heat warnings, with scorching conditions felt across Texas and the south-west in recent weeks. Heatwaves have also roiled China, India, parts of Europe and the Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n