Climate Data Shows Record Ocean Heat, El Niño Forecast for 2026
Multiple scientific agencies, including the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization, have reported near-record ocean temperatures in March 2025 and forecast a likely transition toward El Niño conditions in 2026. NOAA confirmed March 2025 was the hottest March on record for the contiguous United States, averaging 9.35°F above the 20th-century baseline — the first time any month has exceeded that threshold. A separate Newcastle University study found that rising ocean temperatures are intensifying rainfall in North Atlantic tropical cyclones.
Progressive outlets frame the data as evidence of an accelerating climate crisis, emphasizing the potential severity of a 'super El Niño' and criticizing current U.S. federal policy as an obstacle to addressing the underlying drivers of record heat.
Scientific agencies including NOAA, Copernicus, and WMO have independently documented record or near-record temperatures and forecast increased probability of El Niño conditions, while peer-reviewed research links ocean warming to intensified storm rainfall.
Conservative outlets are largely absent from this source set; where present, they may question the certainty of long-range climate forecasts or scrutinize the policy implications and economic costs of proposed climate interventions.
Scientific agencies including NOAA, Copernicus, and WMO have independently documented record or near-record temperatures and forecast increased probability of El Niño conditions, while peer-reviewed research links ocean warming to intensified storm rainfall.
NOAA, Copernicus, and WMO all reported anomalously high temperatures in March 2025 and forecast a likely El Niño transition in 2026.