Climate models showed that April’s ocean temperatures were the highest since a record warm spell in 2024, with the world’s waters warming rapidly as a strong El Niño approaches.
The average global sea surface temperature (SST) in April was 21°C, the second highest ever recorded for the month, just below the record 21.04°C set in April 2024, when unprecedented heat swept the oceans, according to data released last week by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
Meanwhile, a wide area of waters extending from the central tropical Pacific Ocean to the West Coast of the United States and Mexico had its warmest April on record, the data set showed.
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Rapid ocean warming is a key feature of El Niño – a climate pattern characterized by above-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Niño events typically develop every two to seven years and last about nine to 12 months.
Seasonal models have predicted that an El Niño pattern could develop between May and July of this year, perhaps becoming one of the strongest patterns on record.
In India, El Nino is usually associated with harsher summers and weaker monsoons.
C3S data also showed that global air temperatures last month were the third highest on record in April – 14.89°C, or 1.43°C above pre-industrial levels. April 2024 was the warmest April on record with a temperature of 15.03°C.
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However, there were significant regional discrepancies across the Northern Hemisphere, although they were less pronounced than earlier this year. Much of southwestern Europe saw warmer than average conditions, with Spain recording its warmest April on record, while Eastern Europe saw cooler than average conditions.
In the Arctic, sea ice extent was the second lowest ever recorded for the month of April, and remained near record lows for this time of year, continuing a trend seen since the beginning of the year.
Large parts of the northern Indian Ocean, including the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, have begun recording warmer than average temperatures, according to C3S data. It also showed that surface temperatures in Central Asia and Southeast Asia are again very high.
Before the El Niño phenomenon, temperatures in northwest India were largely moderate, with thunderstorm activity in May.
