The UN's World Meteorological Organisation has warned there is a 75-80 per cent chance of a weak El Niño event forming within the next three months.

This naturally occurring phenomenon changes temperatures across the Pacific Ocean and drives extreme weather across the world.

Droughts and flooding are likely to follow in otherwise fairly stable regions as worldwide climate patterns are thrown into disarray for the first part of 2019.

The most recent El Niño event ended in 2016, and was associated with catastrophic coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef as global temperatures reached the highest levels ever recorded.

While the predicted event is not likely to be as severe, it could still bring dangerous weather to vulnerable areas around the world.

“The forecast El Niño is not expected to be as powerful as the event in 2015-2016, which was linked with droughts, flooding and coral bleaching in different parts of the world,” said Maxx Dilley, director of the WMO’s Climate Prediction and Adaptation branch.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke – filled with the carbon that is driving climate change – drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. “Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,” says the photographer. “Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.” Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a “public health emergency”. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

“Even so, it can still significantly affect rainfall and temperature patterns in many regions, with important consequences to agricultural and food security sectors, and for management of water resources and public health, and it may combine with long-term climate change to boost 2019 global temperatures.”

Scientists have been predicting the likelihood of such as event since May, with the chances gradually increasing as the year progresses.

The UN agency said that ocean temperatures have already reached weak El Niño levels in parts of the tropical Pacific, although the atmospheric patterns that accompany these changes have not yet materialised. Forecasters in the US and Australia have already warned of an approaching El Niño.

Chances of dry conditions and drought will increase in nations from the Caribbean to southern Africa, while heavy rainfall will likely hit parts of the US and Europe.

Under the most extreme conditions currently predicted by WMO, sea temperatures will rise up to 1.2C above average.

The Met Office has previously warned that El Niño could impact winter weather in the UK next year.

“An El Niño can create wetter and windier conditions in the first half of winter and it can bring a colder and drier second half, but El Niño is just one factor and others will vie to affect our winter,” said Met scientist Professor Adam Scaife.

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

“For example, the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation with its 14-month pattern of alternating easterly and westerly winds along the equator can weaken or strengthen the jet stream.”

He also said the phenomenon will have a marked effect on global temperature measurements in 2019.

The effects of this warm phase helped make 2016 the hottest year on record. The following year was cooler, but the hottest year ever recorded in which an El Niño event did not take place.