A powerful Super El Niño is brewing in the Pacific Ocean and could become the strongest on record, already causing droughts across three continents and threatening 50 million people with food shortages. Global climate reporter Chico Harlan explains how this natural weather phenomenon works, its devastating historical impacts, and why 2027 could be the hottest year ever. El Niño occurs when tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures fail to cool as normal, allowing warm water to build and rise into the atmosphere, reorganizing global weather patterns comparable to seasons in magnitude.