Will El Niño on top of global heating create the perfect climate storm?

Rising temperatures in north Atlantic and drop in Antarctic sea ice prompt fears of widespread damage from extreme weather

Very unusual", worrying", terrifying", and bonkers"; the reactions of veteran scientists to the sharp increase in north Atlantic surface temperatures over the past three months raises the question of whether the world's climate has entered a more erratic and dangerous phase with the onset of an El Nino event on top of human-made global heating.

Since April, the warming appears to have entered a new trajectory. Meanwhile the area of global sea ice has dropped by more than 1 million sq km below the previous low.