Climate Models Show El Niño Is Rapidly Strengthening

Citing “remarkable agreement” by the models, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says the current El Niño will “strengthen rapidly over the coming months, increasing the likelihood of heatwaves, droughts, heavy rainfall and other extreme-weather events in many parts of the world.” The WMO’s latest monthly climate update issued Friday indicates “a rapid development into a strong El …

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Impact Outlook: El Niño 2026–27

El Niño Is Here. Here’s Why That’s a Head Start, Not Just a Headline. The equatorial Pacific Ocean now reflects El Niño conditions. Forecasters expect it to keep building through the rest of 2026, most likely peaking this fall and winter. Unlike the hazards that arrive with little notice, a developing El Niño announces itself …

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Capacity Building with the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute

By Sumana Palle Introduction In December 2025, I traveled to Addis Ababa, as part of a technical capacity-building mission with NCDP’s Financial Instruments (FIST) team, formerly of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI). Led by Max Mauerman from NCDP and Jeff Turmelle from the Columbia Climate School, the mission was conducted in …

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Leveraging Next-Generation Tsunami Early Warning Systems to Save Lives

Also published in the Columbia Climate School, State of the Planet. When an enormous 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, the impact reached far beyond its epicenter. In the passing hours, tsunami alerts were issued by several nations with coastlines along the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire, prompting evacuations and escalating emergency response efforts from …

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What is the Climate Finance Vulnerability Index (CliF-VI)?

By: Amy Campbell, Student Researcher, National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) Adaptation finance is critically underfunded, with existing finance skewed toward mitigation and middle-income markets. Many countries facing the highest climate risk also carry significant debt burdens and have been repeatedly downgraded by credit rating agencies, thereby increasing their cost of capital and pushing adaptation …

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AI for Wildfires and Heatwaves

Image credit: Bellwether LEAP Wallerstein Panel Series: AI + Extreme Weather Preparedness Based on panel presentations and discussions by Ali Ahmadalipour, Elena Xoplaki, Jatan Buch, and Jorge Pérez Aracil. The 2025 wildfire season in the United States is forecasted to be above normal, highlighting the need to leverage emerging technologies for hazard risk mitigation. At …

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