Pressure Systems edition
Super El Niño and Black Sea Grain War Strain Global Food Markets
September 5, 2026
What this edition shows
A record-shattering Super El Niño supercharged by fossil fuels is converging with targeted Black Sea grain terminal strikes between Russia and Ukraine to push UN food price indices to four-year highs. While international agencies warn of acute hunger for tens of millions, governments from Ottawa to London scramble to manage domestic blowback and bury alarming long-term climate assessments.
Reporting and analysis behind this edition 11 sources
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El Nino: A phenomenon supercharged by climate change
Scientists warn the 2026-27 El Nino could become the strongest ever, exacerbating global heat, droughts and floods.
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Super El Niño could have unexpected effect on UK winter
An El Niño is usually expected to herald a cold end to winter in the UK – but this year could be different
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Conflicts and extreme weather pushing global food prices higher, warns UN
UN food price index rises to four-year high, illustrating impact of war and weather.
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El Niño climate patterns have been supercharged by fossil fuels: study
‘Godzilla’ event currently brewing could push 50 million people into acute hunger before the end of next year.
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Carney government accused of burying climate report warning of worsening impacts
The report, which analyzes the impacts of climate change in Canada, was posted to a government website with no fanfare on Thursday evening ahead of the Labour Day long weekend.
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A record-shattering El Niño is almost here. Here’s what that means for the world’s weather
Laura Symes/Getty The world is bracing for the strongest El Niño in history. The United Nations has made the grim prediction that our planet now sits in the “danger zone” of extreme weather. That’s based on data suggesting the current El Niño will break all previous records. El Niño is a naturally o…
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Coming to a farm near you – the $14trn El Niño climate shock
Will the coming El Niño cataclysm, the strongest for over a century, shake western governments out of their complacency over climate shocks?
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Changes to Canada's climate now 'irreversible,' federal report says
A new government report says the impacts of climate change in Canada are now largely irreversible and average temperatures are expected to rise by at least 3.5 C by the end of the century.
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Global warming will exceed limit, UN says in a report that maps the path to get back below danger zone
In a strategic retreat in the fight against climate change, the United Nations has acknowledged that Earth has lost its chance to prevent some of the worst of global warming's harms. So now the world must figure out how to get temperatures below the danger zone and back to safety, officials say.
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War and heat: Why are wheat prices soaring?
Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks on their respective grain terminals in the Black Sea.
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The 2026 El Niño Is Being ‘Supersized’ as Impacts Worsen
The World Meteorological Organization is warning that the climate phenomenon that has the Pacific running a fever will last until at least February, with dire consequences for weather worldwide.