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In fact, it’s probably the strongest that’s ever been measured. I

In fact, due to an atmospheric lag, extreme weather will likely keep getting worse for several more months. Though El Niño is typically the most powerful player among the world’s constantly feuding meteorological morphologies, it takes months for its burst of heat to filter around the globe from the tropical Pacific. Ocean temperatures in the El Niño regions of the Pacific usually peak in November or December, but globally-averaged temperatures don’t typically peak until between February and July of the following year.

Though El Niño is the proximate cause of many of this year’s weather records, its effects are an upward wiggle on top of the slow-rolling steamroller of climate change.

California is in its sixth year of drought, which was barely dented by rains brought by the El Niño climate event and sparked a range of water restrictions in the state. But warming temperatures and uncertain rainfall mean that if more isn’t done to slow climate change, droughts lasting 35 years are likely to blight western states by the end of the century, according to the study, published in Science Advances.

Such a megadrought would impose “unprecedented stress on the limited water resources”

the study predicts a 70% chance of a megadrought by the end of the century,

"El Niño reduced the amount of food available so the birds probably switched to feeding on discards behind fishing vessels, increasing the number being hooked on longlines."

Not all climate effects are negative. The recent increasing trend towards stronger poleward winds actually benefits the wandering albatrosses. "Such winds make their flight more efficient," Dr Phillips told BBC News. "They can fly faster. Essentially, these winds make the cost of travel cheaper for them."

Scientists say the losses are the result of careless fishing practices and climate pressures.