Indonesia & Malaysia
Drought / water / fire risk
Severe drought dries peatlands, fueling large forest fires and haze that drifts across borders; rice and palm yields fall.
Jakarta · Palembang · Pontianak · Surabaya
Bulletin
This week's Pacific numbers, in plain language.
What the equatorial Pacific did this week, in NOAA numbers and plain language, plus the regions most likely to feel it.
NOAA observation week:
Published by El Niño Observatory
Analysis generated:
This week's take
The Pacific warmed. Weekly Niño 3.4 anomaly: +2.4 °C, +0.2 °C from last week. Ocean data, not a local weather warning.
In the central equatorial Pacific (Niño 3.4), the weekly sea-surface temperature difference from the 1991–2020 average is +2.4 °C. This reading alone does not establish an event's official strength.
In February 2026, NOAA CPC adopted the Relative Oceanic Niño Index (RONI). Traditional ONI and weekly temperatures use different averaging methods; they are not interchangeable measures of event strength.
NOAA's current ENSO advisory and RONI ↗Niño 1+2
+3.8 °C
SST 25.2 °C
Niño 3
+2.8 °C
SST 28.2 °C
Niño 3.4
+2.4 °C
SST 29.4 °C
vs +2.2 °C last week
Niño 4
+1.0 °C
SST 29.7 °C
For the week of July 29, 2026, Niño 3.4 stood at +2.4 °C (SST 29.4 °C). That is +0.2 °C from last week's +2.2 °C. Niño 1+2 was +3.8 °C, Niño 3 +2.8 °C, and Niño 4 +1.0 °C. 8-week trend: warming.
These warmer Pacific waters are associated with a tendency for drier conditions in places like Indonesia and Australia, and wetter conditions in parts of South America. However, these effects can vary.
It's important to follow NOAA's official advisories for any developing climate patterns and to check local weather forecasts for specific conditions.
Places with a documented El Niño link, ranked using this week's NOAA readings. Not official warnings.
Drought / water / fire risk
Severe drought dries peatlands, fueling large forest fires and haze that drifts across borders; rice and palm yields fall.
Jakarta · Palembang · Pontianak · Surabaya
Extreme heat
Reduced rainfall and heatwaves raise bushfire danger and strain water supplies along the populous east coast.
Brisbane · Sydney · Canberra · Melbourne
Flooding / extreme rain
Warm coastal waters drive torrential rain, flash floods and landslides. Historically the hardest-hit zone of any El Niño.
Guayaquil · Piura · Trujillo · Lima
Flooding / extreme rain
A strengthened subtropical jet brings persistent extreme rainfall. The 2023-24 Rio Grande do Sul floods are the textbook example.
Porto Alegre · Pelotas · Santa Maria · Florianópolis
Drought / water / fire risk
Fewer rain-producing storms bring severe drought, record-low rivers, fires and crop failure across the Amazon basin and the semi-arid Northeast.
Manaus · Santarém · Belém · São Luís
Drought / water / fire risk
Failed rains across the Dry Corridor threaten subsistence maize and bean harvests, deepening food insecurity.
Guatemala City · San Salvador · Tegucigalpa · Managua
Numbers: NOAA CPC weekly OISST and Oceanic Niño Index. The interpretation is our own.
Historical observations may be revised by NOAA. The seasonal index includes only seasons completed by this observation week. These are NOAA's current figures, not the numbers as first published.