Top 10 highest July sea surface temperature anomalies during past El Niño events. As of July 2026, the current El Niño event (magenta bar) is weaker than the 1997-98 event (red bar) when ranked by the new relative Niño-3.4 index (left). Ranked by the traditional Niño-3.4 index (right), 2026 is stronger, but a part of that is from long-term global warming, not El Niño. Climate.us image, based on analysis by Mike Tippet.