The global chaos agent known as El Niño is back, and this year it’s already on track to be, by far, the strongest and most severe on record, wreaking havoc on weather across the world.
Today, Chico Harlan, the global climate reporter for The New York Times, goes over El Niño’s history, its inner workings and its increasingly destructive fallout.
Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/chico-harlan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chico Harlan</a>, the global climate correspondent for The New York Times.
Background reading: 
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/17/briefing/watch-out-for-el-nino.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">El Niño, the Pacific climate shift that comes around once or twice a decade, is back</a>, warming tropical oceans and setting off consequences worldwide.</li>
 <li>It’s expected to peak later this year but is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/climate/el-nino-early-onset-effects.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">already causing dry spells and crop failures on three continents</a>.</li>
</ul>
Photo: Bay Ismoyo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily" rel="noopener noreferrer">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 
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