{"id":27327,"date":"2026-10-21T04:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T03:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/?p=27327"},"modified":"2026-10-21T04:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T03:10:11","slug":"record-el-nino-indonesian-fires-pacific-storms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/2026\/10\/21\/record-el-nino-indonesian-fires-pacific-storms\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia\u2019s haze has sickened 175,000 people as El Ni\u00f1o fuels its worst fire season since 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<section aria-labelledby=\"hpd-nfnmyipv-inrtzyj-hlesdml-zofjqh\" class=\"auk-zvimcvi-inrtzyj\" lang=\"en\">\n<h2 id=\"hpd-nfnmyipv-inrtzyj-hlesdml-zofjqh\">In brief<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Indonesia is in its worst wildfire season since 2015, with at least 895,657 hectares burned since January.<\/li>\n<li>The eastern Pacific has logged 22 named storms, while the Atlantic has produced a single hurricane.<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s monsoon rainfall is 13% below average, and scientists say El Ni\u00f1o may not be the only factor.<\/li>\n<li>The western Pacific has seen 10 tropical cyclones, the most in a season since 1966.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<p>The World Meteorological Agency says the record-breaking El Ni\u00f1o will strengthen further and persist until at least 2027, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/weather\/articles\/c6dx07dznpyyo?at_medium=RSS&amp;at_campaign=rss\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">BBC<\/a> review published on 19 October. The phenomenon has been building for several months, and droughts, floods and heatwaves have already been reported in countries including Indonesia, India and the United States.<\/p>\n<h2>Indonesia\u2019s fires and a haze that reaches children<\/h2>\n<p>Indonesia typically turns drier and hotter in El Ni\u00f1o years, and it is now fighting its worst wildfire season since 2015. The scale is easiest to grasp in numbers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"auk-kmrcibp\">\n<div class=\"auk-fsnsbv\"><strong class=\"auk-fsnsbv__fvtkh auk-fsnsbv__fvtkh--gkfeiy\">895,657\u00a0<span class=\"auk-fsnsbv__wmbpnjn\">ha<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"auk-fsnsbv__ppkniutc\">burned since January, more than twice last year\u2019s area<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"auk-fsnsbv\"><strong class=\"auk-fsnsbv__fvtkh\">175,000<\/strong><span class=\"auk-fsnsbv__ppkniutc\">people with respiratory illness<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"auk-fsnsbv\"><strong class=\"auk-fsnsbv__fvtkh\">40,000+<\/strong><span class=\"auk-fsnsbv__ppkniutc\">of those cases involve toddlers<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The burned area is nearly six times the size of Greater London, and last year\u2019s smaller toll came without any El Ni\u00f1o influence. The fires have closed schools and pushed up hospital admissions. Millions of people in Sumatra and Kalimantan have breathed toxic haze. Among the sick toddlers, conditions range from coughs and bronchitis to pneumonia.<\/p>\n<h2>A hyperactive eastern Pacific, a quiet Atlantic<\/h2>\n<p>El Ni\u00f1o pulls storm activity in opposite directions on either side of the Americas. In the eastern Pacific it supplies warmer seas and weaker winds high in the atmosphere, which makes it easier for storms to build strength. In the north Atlantic it tends to raise wind shear, which tears storms apart and limits their formation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"auk-tinmpey-ubkgf\">\n<div class=\"auk-tinmpey\">\n<p><strong>Eastern Pacific<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>22 named storms and 12 hurricanes, 10 of them major, already above a full average season with two months left.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"auk-ubkgf\">\n<p><strong>Atlantic<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Eight tropical storms and one hurricane, Isaias, where an average season would have 10 named storms, five hurricanes and two major hurricanes by now.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"hpd-nfnmyipv-imzntj-gogcn\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Satellite view of a large hurricane with a visible eye over the Atlantic, east of the Caribbean, with coastlines and city lights.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/satellite-view-of-large-hurricane-with-visible-eye-over.jpg\" \/><figcaption>Satellite image of a hurricane over the Atlantic Ocean, east of the Caribbean islands. Archive image dated 5 September 2017, not a view of current events. <span class=\"auk-gogcn-ertkm\" data-provider=\"wikimedia\">Photo: Official U.S. Navy Page from United States of America U.S. Navy photo\/U.S. Navy \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:A_GOES_satellite_image_showing_Hurricane_Irma_in_the_Atlantic_Ocean._(37044690075).jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hurricane Polo rapidly intensified and produced gusts of 180 mph (285 kmh), fuelled by very warm water. It spun alongside Odalys and Nolo, three hurricanes at once. Earlier in September, Lowell, Karina and Marie had done the same across the central and eastern Pacific, something not seen since 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Isaias made landfall in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. It is the latest-forming hurricane of the satellite era, which dates from the 1960s. The previous record was 11 September, set in 2002 and 2013.<\/p>\n<h2>India\u2019s uneven monsoon<\/h2>\n<p>Monsoon rainfall in India has been 13% below average, a shortfall the Indian Meteorological Department still counts as within the normal range. The national figure hides sharp differences. Central India received roughly its usual rain, while the east and north-east were about 26% drier and classed as being in exceptional drought. Southern states were 24% drier.<\/p>\n<p>Even where totals came closer to average, the rain did not fall steadily as it normally does in a monsoon. It flipped between long dry spells and extreme downpours, adding stress to farm yields. Scientists point out that several weather patterns shape India\u2019s monsoon, so El Ni\u00f1o may not have been the only factor.<\/p>\n<h2>Typhoons in the western Pacific<\/h2>\n<p>Further west, eastern China and Japan have had an active season. Storms including Maysak and Dujuan have brought widespread floods and landslides. The Japanese Meteorological Agency counts 10 tropical cyclones in the western Pacific, the highest number in a season since 1966.<\/p>\n<p>During El Ni\u00f1o, the warmer Pacific shifts wind patterns so that cyclones tend to form further east, away from Japan and eastern China. That gives them more distance and time over warm water to gain energy before reaching land. Scientists believe additional typhoons are likely to develop this year, with potential for further impacts on Japan or eastern China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"media-credit auk-gogcn-ertkm\" data-provider=\"pexels\"><small>Photo: Engin Akyurt \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/forest-fire-and-moody-landscape-27490575\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Pexels<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The WMO expects the record El Ni\u00f1o to last into 2027, while Indonesian fires, eastern Pacific hurricanes and a patchy monsoon already mark the weather.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":27329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1229,1232,1230,1233,1234,1231,1235],"class_list":["post-27327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-el-nino","tag-hurricanes","tag-indonesia","tag-monsoon","tag-typhoons","tag-wildfires","tag-wmo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27327"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27335,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27327\/revisions\/27335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}