The current El Nino is likely to reach its peak at the end of this year, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The bureau’s latest update says the weather event “continues to strengthen”, with recent oceanic and atmospheric readings at levels not seen since the 1997/98 record.

“Climate models indicate the event will peak around the end of [the year], followed by rapid weakening heading into autumn,” Senior Climatologist Catherine Ganter told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “This is what we would expect of a typical El Nino life cycle.”

She says the current El Nino “is the strongest since 1997/98”.

El Nino is caused by rising sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, and its impacts on Australia can be severe, including increased bushfire risk in the southeast and reduced rainfall.

“El Nino has a bit of a complicated effect on summer heat… there tends to be fewer frequent prolonged warm spells, but more intense daily heat extremes over the southern states,” Ms Ganter said. “Over the northern states, there tends to be an increase in both daily heat extremes and multi-day warm periods.”

US government scientists say last month was the hottest on record, partly due to the El Nino.