New study’s surprising findings show that extreme amounts of summer rainfall within India could have an El Niño link

Published on : 22 Sep 2025, 12:18 pm

El Niño events in India led to intensification of extreme daily rainfall, according to new research published in Science on September 18, 2025 .

Although the well-documented effect of El Niño events is to decrease summer rainfall, it also paradoxically intensified extreme daily precipitation amounts. Throughout India, the study—using observational data spanning 1901 to 2020—found that El Niño events counterintuitively, simultaneously intensify extreme daily rainfall.

The research specifically examined extreme daily rain during El Niño years to reach the surprising conclusion. To understand the connection between rainfall in India and El Niño, the researchers analysed India Meteorological Department (IMD) daily rainfall records (1901-2020).