PARIS, France (AFP)—The European Union’s climate monitor said Friday that ocean temperatures are edging toward record highs as conditions shift toward a potentially powerful El Nino weather pattern.

Samantha Burgess from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) said sea surface temperatures in recent days were just shy of the all-time highs of 2024 — and May looked set to break its own record.

“It’s a matter of days before we are back in record-breaking ocean SSTs (sea surface temperatures) again,” Burgess, strategic lead for climate at ECMWF, told AFP.