Could a "Godzilla" El Niño be heading our way?
Breakfast with Bongani Bingwa · 4 June 2026 · 5m
Speaker 1: Current events, developing stories, tough questions, your voice making a difference. Speaker 2: This is a break with a godzilla. El Nino is being called heading our way. Speaker 2: Scientists are warning that powerful El Nino weather pattern could develop later this year, and Speaker 2: they're saying it has the potential to be one of the strongest we have seen Speaker 2: in decades. What begins perhaps thousands of kilometers away in the Pacific Ocean could have Speaker 2: an impact right here in southern Africa. Hotter temperatures, reduced rainfall, draft conditions, and of Speaker 2: course that will place pressure on food production and prices. Joining us to discuss this Speaker 2: issue, we are joined by Professor Neville Swade who joins us from the University of Speaker 2: Stellenbosch, the Access director for the School of Climate Studies. Very good morning to prof Speaker 2: and thank you for your time. Need El Nino, of course, isn't a phenomenon we Speaker 2: are hearing about for the first time. But what makes this one this time around Speaker 2: stand out. Speaker 1: Well, the models that are used to predict El Nino are showing that the departure Speaker 1: from normal, in other words, how strong the ol Lino is going to be excuse Speaker 1: me, is predicted to be quite unusual and very strong on the scale of weaken Speaker 1: alminos to strong olinos. So this is a very very strong event that's predicted to Speaker 1: happen, the big departure from average. Speaker 2: Let me actually not assume people might know. Perhaps let's start there. Why don't you Speaker 2: define what an el Nino event is in the first instance? Speaker 1: Prov sure. So what happens…
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