美国气候预测中心宣布厄尔尼诺现象已于2026年5月正式出现，并预计将在冬季达到高峰。这波极端气候将带来严重的热浪、干旱与洪涝，对全球政府、企业及家庭造成冲击，特别是在全球正因地缘政治冲突而面临高通膨压力的时期。

气候变迁加剧了厄尔尼诺现象的破坏力，导致海洋温度异常升高，甚至被部分预报员称为「超级厄尔尼诺」。这不仅引发农业减产，使糖、可可等作物价格飙升，预期将使2026年食品价格上涨高达4.7%，还会造成数万亿美元的经济生产力损失。

全球供应链也受到波及，例如巴拿马运河因干旱不得不提前实施限水运营，进而影响液化天然气等货物运输。此外，秘鲁因水温上升暂停鳀鱼捕捞，进一步推高动物饲料与蛋白质的成本，为早已不堪重负的全球消费者带来更多挑战。

The US Climate Prediction Center declared that El Niño conditions officially emerged in May 2026 and are expected to peak over the winter. This extreme weather event threatens to bring severe heat waves, droughts, and deluges, impacting governments, businesses, and households already struggling with high inflation linked to geopolitical conflicts.

Climate change has amplified the impact of El Niño, leading to significantly hotter oceans and causing some forecasters to call this episode a "super" El Niño. This weather pattern is not only disrupting agriculture—driving up prices for crops like sugar and cocoa and pushing 2026 food prices up by as much as 4.7%—but also risking trillions of dollars in lost global productivity.

Global supply chains are also feeling the strain, with the Panama Canal Authority taking early water-conservation measures due to drought, which disrupts the shipping of liquefied natural gas and other goods. Additionally, Peru's halt on anchovy fishing due to warming waters is set to drive up the cost of animal protein, adding pressure on global consumers already facing record-high food prices.