U.S. meteorologists say an El Nino has formed. That's the natural warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather around the globe. It is likely to a major factor in extreme and deadly weather across the planet for the next year or so. The one announced Thursday is expected to rival the record and costly 1997-98 El Nino. It is usually strongest in the wintertime, and it makes it incredibly likely that 2027 will set a record for the hottest year globally. The United Nations secretary-general says El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world.

A super typhoon steadily battered a pair of remote U.S. islands in the Pacific Ocean with ferocious winds and relentless rains, shredding tin roofs and forcing residents to take cover from flying tree limbs. Super Typhoon Sinlaku pounded the Northern Mariana Islands for hours before daybreak Wednesday, slowing just to inflict more damage across the islands of Tinian and Saipan, home to nearly 50,000 people. The National Weather Service says the tropical typhoon was packing sustained winds of up to 150 mph when it made landfall on the islands. The weather service says tropical force winds and torrential rainfall also led to flash flooding on Guam, a U.S. territory to the south with several U.S. military installations and about 170,000 residents.

Extreme weather conditions from coast to coast put more than half the U.S. in the path of rough conditions. Storms across the nation's eastern half forced airlines to cancel more than 3,000 flights nationwide Monday. Many schools closed early in the mid-Atlantic states, where high winds and tornadoes were in the forecast. Blizzards buried parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota while torrential rains flooded homes and washed out roads in Hawaii. California is dealing with unusually high temperatures for this time of year. Areas near San Francisco could see temperatures in the high 80s.