How El Nino could impact the world's weather in 2023-24

A farmer removes dried plants from his parched paddy field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, September 8, 2015. Picture taken September 8, 2015. REUTERS/Amit Dave/

LONDON(Reuters) - Countries are racing to prepare for extreme weather later this year as the world tips into an El Nino — a natural climate phenomenon that fuels tropical cyclones in the Pacific and boosts rainfall and flood risk in parts of the Americas and elsewhere.

On Thursday, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared that an El Nino is now underway. The past three years have been dominated by the cooler La Nina pattern.