A record-strong El Niño is coming, and it's bad news for your grocery and utility bills as it wrecks harvests, shipping, and power grids worldwide.

• A "super" El Niño, the strongest in 150 years, is expected from summer 2026 into early 2027 — far bigger than the 2023/24 event.
• The last one already sent cocoa prices soaring, shrinking chocolate bars and swapping real cocoa for cheaper fats; another sharp rise is coming.
• Droughts dried up the Panama Canal and hit rice supplies, forcing India to ban exports and pushing food prices up across Asia and Africa.
• Zambia lost most of its hydro power and is now turning to coal to keep the lights on, undoing its shift to clean energy.
• Wild, unpredictable weather is also driving up insurance costs, and those higher premiums get passed on to shoppers.

Outlook: Expect more food shortages, higher grocery and utility bills, and rising political instability as these El Niño events grow stronger and more frequent.