How could El Niño affect the Amazon rainforest in 2026 and 2027?
11 June 2026 (219 visits)You may have been reading for weeks now on social media, in the press and on television news about how, when ocean temperatures off the coast of Peru are higher than usual, global weather patterns are affected. Known as El Niño, after the Christ Child, because Peruvian seafarers first noted the phenomenon around Christmas time, this event raises ocean temperatures every two to seven years.
During an El Niño event, Peru’s dry northern desert coast is transformed when higher coastal water temperatures result in torrential rainfall and severe flooding. Floods can also occur in other places across South America, including Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay.
At the same time, El Niño’s influence on ocean currents and the global weather patterns that are dependent upon those currents can lead to drastically lower rainfall in other parts of the world, including Africa, Asia and Australia.
Here in Peru, while heavy rains can affect the northern desert coast under the influence of El Niño, in the Andes of southern Peru, where Cusco and Machu Picchu are located, and in the southeast Amazon forests where our Tambopata Ecolodge and Tambopata National Reserve are situated, rainfall during what is normally the wet season (from November to March) can drop markedly.
When the Amazon rainforest is hit by such drought-like conditions, wildlife sightings at riverbanks and around lakes, where we take our guests on the guided excursions we offer, may be more frequent than usual, with major species emerging from the forest to drink.
Of course, this is good news for nature lovers who want to see as many of the Amazon’s often elusive animals as possible during their Peru trip, and who would maybe prefer it not to rain too much during their vacation!
But El Niño can lead to unwelcome stress on the delicate ecosystems of the rainforest. So, if you get rain when you visit us in the Amazon rainforest later this year or in 2027, try to be happy for the animals and plants as you put on your rain jacket!
