A second burst of westerly wind over a remote portion of the western Pacific Ocean increased the likelihood of record-high temperatures this year, according to The Washington Post. 

What's happening?

On Dec. 10, the Post reported a westerly wind burst in a "remote part of the equatorial Pacific Ocean."

While the burst occurred far offshore, it concerned scientists, signaling an increased risk of "a planet-warming El Niño in 2026."

At the time, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources climate scientist Daniel Swain warned that a "significant El Niño event" could mean two years of record highs.

"This is concerning, because that would probably mean that we set another new global temperature record and possibly by a significant margin," Swain explained to the Post, referring to the fact that 2024 was the hottest year on record to date.

On Monday, the Post reported a second westerly wind burst over the Pacific, again increasing the odds it would "trigger a significant change in the planet's weather patterns." 

Author and meteorologist Ben Noll described the bursts as "very unusual" and "record-breaking in some areas" in a Feb. 4 post on the social platform X. In Monday's Post article, Noll detailed how westerly wind bursts moved some of the ocean's hottest waters from the Western Pacific, influencing future weather patterns.

Department of Defense meteorologist Eric Webb described a self-perpetuating, compounding, dangerous loop-like effect driven by planet-warming pollution.

"Due to the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases, the climate system cannot effectively exhaust the heat released in a major El Niño event before the next El Niño comes along and pushes the baseline upward again," Webb stated, per the Post.

Why is this concerning?

El Niño helped make 2023 and 2024 the hottest years on record, but 2025 was still a close third.

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​​El Niño and La Niña are two distinct Pacific Ocean climate patterns in the El Niño Southern Oscillation cycle; the former is the warming phase, while the latter is the cooling phase.

Home insurer Windward Risk likened the two systems to the "'hot' and 'cold' settings on nature's weather machine," warning policyholders that El Niño and La Niña intensify extreme weather. 

Extreme weather isn't synonymous with "severe weather," such as hurricanes, floods, drought, and wildfires — it's a distinct phenomenon marked by its unnatural intensity and deviance from established regional weather patterns.

As the world overheats, higher average temperatures and warmer seas increase evaporation, strengthening weather systems. In 2023, researchers found that the year's El Niño cost $3 trillion globally, a cost borne largely by the poorest nations.  

The Post noted these effects would be delayed but severe, potentially exacerbating erosion and hurricanes, intensifying rains, further threatening Arctic sea ice, raising the "likelihood of coral bleaching," and introducing the potential that 2024's heat record could shatter in 2026.

What's being done about it?

Understanding critical climate issues, such as El Niño, is imperative as extreme weather worsens.

As Webb observed, reducing pollution is the key to counteracting these effects.

Using public transportation, installing solar panels, and switching to an electric vehicle are common ways to cut harmful carbon pollution at an individual level.

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