September 20–27, 2026 · Parallel to New York Climate Week
Scientists can see it coming. Hundreds of millions of people will feel it — in their power, their water, their livelihoods. El Niño Climate Week points the world's largest climate gathering at the world's largest climate event, and kicks off three months of global action.
“What’s happening, what can we do about it, and let’s go do it.” — Tito Jankowski · El Niño Climate Week
What's at stake
The 2026 El Niño is shaping up to be the strongest in modern records, and it's building on a baseline that gets warmer every cycle. The forecast is not the hard part. The hard part is what happens between the forecast and the flood.
No El Niño has ever been this warm, this early.
Sea-surface temperature anomaly in the Niño 3.4 region (ONI) for the five biggest El Niños since records began in 1950, aligned by event year. Solid lines stop at the latest data — 2026 is already above every previous event at this point. The dotted paths show where the others went from here, and what it cost the world.
| Season | 2026 | 2015–16 | 1997–98 | 1982–83 | 2023–24 |
|---|
Data: NOAA Climate Prediction Center, Oceanic Niño Index (ERSSTv6), retrieved August 25, 2026. Loss figures are cumulative global economic losses attributed to each event over the onset year and the three years after — about 4–5% of global GDP at the time (Liu et al., Nature Communications, 2023, figures as published). The 2023–24 figure is a pre-event projection of losses through 2029 (Callahan & Mankin, Science, 2023). Even on NOAA’s new Relative ONI, which subtracts the background warming of the whole tropical ocean, 2026 is tracking the strongest events ever recorded — and the absolute ocean heat is unprecedented either way: 29.0 °C in Niño 3.4, the warmest May–July ever measured.
Heat waves, storms, and drought-strained hydropower push grids past their limits — exactly when people need cooling, pumping, and communication most.
El Niño redraws the rain map: drought where communities expect rain, floods where they don't. Reservoirs, wells, and crops all sit downstream of that shift.
Fisheries collapse, harvests fail, supply chains snarl. The people hit hardest are the ones who never attend a climate conference.
Why a week
Every September, the climate community gathers in New York — breakfasts, run clubs, networking dinners. To the people who will actually live through this El Niño, that can look like climate isn't all that important.
Imagine instead that the week pointed at the storm on the horizon: what the science says, what's already happening, and what we can still do about power systems, water systems, and communication before the peak. A climate conversation that isn't just for climate people — one led by everyone on Earth.
Imagine we come out the other side of El Niño with something different to say about the climate — because of what we did together.
Featured · Climate Week NYC program
Scientists can often see El Niño coming months ahead — where drought, flooding, and heat become more likely. But a forecast isn't preparedness. This conversation with Columbia Climate School's Distinguished Fellows asks what happens after the forecast: how leadership, institutions, culture, and human behavior turn climate knowledge into real-world decisions.
Opening remarks by Dean Alexis Abramson; scientific overview and moderation by Professor Jeffrey Shaman. Featuring Distinguished Fellows Justin Brice Guariglia, Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotakis, and Miranda Massie. Audience Q&A, followed by a reception.
Hosted by Columbia Climate School as part of the Climate Week NYC 2026 program.
The three-month window
Between Climate Week and the El Niño peak there are roughly three months. That's not long enough to stop it — it's exactly long enough to prepare for it, and to prove that a climate event can be met with a plan instead of a shrug.
Harden grids for heat and storms, stage backup power for critical services, and get demand-response plans in place before the stress arrives.
Pre-position storage and treatment where drought and flood risk is elevated, and get reservoir and well contingency plans out of the drawer.
Forecasts only matter if they reach people in time, in their language, with something actionable attached. Build the channels now.
Use a live, global climate event to expand who talks about climate — from the people already at the conference to the people living the impacts.
Get involved
Planning kickoff · Online
We'll cover the structure of the week, what events and programming are needed, how you can help, and how to bring your organization or community in. It's going to be fast — come ready to build.
RSVP on Luma →