1877's El Niño Left 50 Million Dead. This One Is Hotter

Wet and stormy first, a cold snap later? Learn to read Europe's winter forecasts as probabilities and plan your home and trips: https://themeridiandeskstore.com 23:59 UTC, Wednesday 30 September — The Equatorial Pacific. When September closed, the water in the El Niño zone had averaged 29.70°C, the warmest month ever measured there, and Europe's Copernicus service confirmed it on Monday 12 October. That is close to 3°C above normal, already beyond the roughly 2.7°C reconstructed for the El Niño of 1877–78, the event behind a famine that killed some 50 million people. The Pacific is still warming, with the peak forecast around December, and Europe's winter forecasts have started to move. What the record does to the Atlantic storm track and the Arctic stratosphere in January and February is still undecided. The Meridian Desk tracks the planet from the European side of the map — earthquakes, eruptions, floods, windstorms, heatwaves, and the space weather that lights up northern skies. Every video delivers the data, what Europe's own agencies are saying, and what comes next in twenty to twenty-five minutes. New videos three to four times a week. CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction 0:33 Copernicus publishes the September record 3:29 Hotter or stronger: two ways to measure 5:49 1877 and the Great Drought 7:25 How El Niño moves the rain 8:55 Why Copernicus expects no repeat famine 10:27 How high the peak could climb 12:05 What reaches Europe this winter 14:48 Britain's two El Niño winters 16:28 Pacific record, quiet Atlantic 18:49 The bulletins to watch next SOURCES Copernicus — Surface air temperature for September 2026 — https://climate.copernicus.eu/surface... Copernicus — Second-warmest September (press release, 12 Oct) — https://climate.copernicus.eu/coperni... Copernicus — Seasonal forecasts (October 2026) — https://climate.copernicus.eu/seasona... AFP via Daily Tribune — El Niño sets temperature record in key Pacific zone — https://tribune.net.ph/2026/10/12/el-... NOAA CPC — ENSO Diagnostic Discussion (8 Oct) — https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product... NOAA CPC — ENSO weekly update (13 Oct) — https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product... Carbon Brief — Cited, 15 September 2026 (1877–78) — https://www.carbonbrief.org/cited-15-... Carbon Brief — Super El Niño reaches all-time record — https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-... Down To Earth — Super El Niño set to peak in December — https://www.downtoearth.org.in/climat... Met Office — Record-breaking El Niño surpasses previous benchmarks — https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/blog/202... Euronews — El Niño could weaken the polar vortex — https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/09/e... The Weather Network — Northeast Pacific breaks ACE record — https://theweathernetwork.com/en/news... CBS News — Pacific hurricane record — https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pacific-... CBS News — Hurricane Isaias — https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurrican... US National Ice Center — Iceberg B-52 — https://usicecenter.gov/PressRelease/... This channel is for education and news analysis. Data comes from public scientific agencies; where something is unconfirmed or speculative, we say so. IMAGE SOURCES Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org Sentinel-2 cloudless by EOX IT Services (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016): https://s2maps.eu #elnino2026 #europewinter