India, Oct. 3 -- The 2026 El Nino that started in May has now been in place for five full months. This is also the period when its impact on global weather is not expected to be very strong because it is yet to reach its peak. However, even during this period, it does have some impact, such as suppressing June-September monsoon rainfall in India. How was its impact on rainfall elsewhere? The following four maps explain this.

A brief explanation of El Nino is useful in assessing its impact on rainfall. It is described as a cyclical warming of the central-eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. This can be seen in the streak of warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures (SSTs) along the equator, running from the Americas to the central region o...