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Climate Change

Page Updated:
Oct. 12, 2026

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• • Australia's Climate Change Officials
  Face Drastic Cuts and AI Efficiencies

  Review Recommends Department Cuts Budget and Pools Money For Urgent Priorities
  
  {POLITICO}

  Oct. 12, 2026 -Australia’s climate change bureaucrats were urged to cut up to 30% of their internal budgets, and hit AI-driven efficiencies of up to 3% a year, to preserve the department’s ability to deliver its highest priorities.

  In a May 2026 review of priorities, the government’s internal consulting unit called for climate change executives to impose a levy of between 5% and 30% to “policy group budgets” as a matter of “immediate fiscal imperative.”

• • Loss of St. Mary’s Glacier Will Bring ‘Urgency’
  to Issue of a Global Warming and Disappearing Snowfields

  When A Glacier is Not a Glacier
  
  {SUMMIT DAILY}

  Oct. 10, 2026 -For a century, the snowfield known as St. MarGLACIERy’s Glacier has been a popular Colorado destination that captured the hearts and imaginations of thousands of visitors. Only an hour or so from Denver, the snowfield had, until this year, always been known to last year-round, bringing sightseers as well as skiers and snowboarders seeking summer turns.

  Though it is called a glacier, scientists say St. Mary’s hasn’t been a true glacier — which is defined by ice so dense that it moves under the weight of Earth’s gravity — anytime in recent history. After the ice melted completely for the first time in recorded history this September, St. Mary’s isn’t even a perennial snowfield.

• • Inside the Deadlock At the World's Top Climate Science Body

  Dispute is Sowing Discord In Body Intended to Help Governments Bridge Divides

  

  Oct. 9, 2026 -The decision was expected to take minutes. But after nearly three years of debate, members of the world’s leading authority on climate change still can’t agree on a timeline to publish its next review of the latest science on the warming planet.

  Such assessments from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have informed every major United Nations climate agreement for three decades. But the impasse over publication dates could leave countries to decide the next phase of action without consensus on critical issues – including the extent to which some global warming might be reversible –according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former IPCC scientists, government negotiators and meeting observers.

• • Cop31 Host Urges Wealthy Countries to
  Spend ‘Much More’ On Climate Than Defense

  ‘The Climate Issue is the Security Issue,’ Says Turkish Minister At Pacific Pre-Cop Summit In Fiji

  

  Oct. 9, 2026 -Wealthy countries should spend far more on dealing with the climate crisis than the 5% of GDP promised by Nato members for defence because “the climate issue is the security issue”, the host of the next UN summit has said.

  But, in comments that are likely to prove contentious, the Cop31 president-designate, Murat Kurum, hedged on whether countries should try to repeat a previous agreement to “transition away from fossil fuels” – the primary cause of the climate crisis – when they meet in Turkey next month.

• • Britons Kept In Dark About Scale of Climate Crisis,
  Say Viewers of ‘First-of-Its-Kind’ Emergency Briefing

  ‘The Climate Issue is the Security Issue,’ Says Turkish Minister At Pacific Pre-Cop Summit In Fiji

  

  Oct. 8, 2026 -The British government must be honest about the scale of the threat posed by climate and nature breakdown, researchers have said, after nine out of 10 people surveyed after watching a briefing on the issue felt more motivated to act.

  Last November, in the “first-of-its-kind national emergency briefing”, nine experts gave stark assessments in Central Hall in Westminster of the scale of the changes needed in the UK to adapt to the rapidly changing climate and ecological landscape.

• • Australia Says Cop31 Co-Presidency
  Will Work On a Cover Decision

  Chris Bowen Said the Text Could Acknowledge the Inevitable Overshoot of 1.5C, While Questions Remain Over the Inclusion of the Electrification Goal
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}

  Oct. 8, 2026 -Australia and Türkiye have agreed to take forward a “presidency-led decision for COP31” after consulting with different countries and groups, Australia’s climate change and energy minister said on Wednesday at the pre-COP meeting in Fiji.

  The announcement that November’s climate conference will produce what is known among negotiators as a “cover decision” lays to rest the annual speculation over how the main outcomes of the UN climate conference will be presented this year.

• • Tracking This Season’s Historic El Niño

  This Season Has Already Become a Super El Niño, and Current Trends Indicate It Will Likely Become the Strongest in Recorded History
  
  {CNN Weather}

  Oct. 8, 2026 -A potentially record-shattering El Niño is underway, and we’re already seeing its effects. From wildfires in Indonesia to an unusually active tropical cyclone season in the Pacific, the phenomenon has a cascading effect on global weather patterns that will peak during the upcoming winter.

  On Thursday morning, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration boosted the odds that this El Niño will exceed the intensity of all others since at least 1950 to 83%, up from an already high 75% chance last month.

• • Rainmakers: Hurricane Rachel Leaves Forecasters
  Stunned As It Gains Strength Toward Pacific Coast

  What It Means For California
  
  {NEW YORK POST}

  Oct. 7, 2026 -Southern California is about to go from record-breaking heat to tropical storm misery, with the remnants of Hurricane Rachel barreling toward the region this weekend — bringing heavy rain, thunderstorms, coastal flooding and potentially 15-foot waves.

  After baking in triple-digit temperatures for days, SoCal could get its first taste of the rainy season Sunday as Rachel gets ripped apart by a powerful low-pressure system off the California coast and sends a slug of tropical moisture north.

• • How a Record-Breaking El Niño Could
  Supercharge California’s Winter Storms

  The Abnormally Strong Event May Boost Extreme Weather, Flooding and Erosion of the Coasts

  

  Oct. 6, 2026 -Few states are more sensitive to what’s happening in the Pacific Ocean than California — and what’s happening in the Pacific this year has no modern precedent.

  Because of that, California is expected to face a much higher risk than normal for powerful, moisture-laden storms late this fall and winter, especially from December onward, driven in part by a record-breaking El Niño that resulted in a statewide emergency declaration last month.

• • Downtown LA Hits Record 102
  Degrees As Heat Wave Arrives in SoCal

  A Prolonged and Potentially Dangerous Heat Wave Took Hold Across Southern California On Friday, Sending Temperatures Into Triple Digits In Parts of L.A. County
  
  {abc7 EYE WITNESS NEWS}

  Oct. 3, 2026 -A prolonged and potentially dangerous heat wave took hold across Southern California on Friday, sending temperatures into triple digits in parts of Los Angeles County.

  The heat arrived in L.A. County Friday and actually exceeded expectations in and around the Downtown area where highs reached 102 as of 12:50 p.m., which not only matched the expected forecast for Saturday, but also broke the daily record, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said the temperature could climb even higher in downtown Los Angeles Friday afternoon.

• • Underwater Umbrellas Could Protect Coral Reefs From Heat Damage

  Underwater Umbrellas Could Protect Coral Reefs From Heat—and Even Partly Reverse the Bleaching...
  
  {GOOD NEWS NETWORK}

  Oct. 3, 2026 -Temporary shades placed over particularly vulnerable Caribbean corals can mitigate damage from high sea temperatures driven by global warming, which turns them ghostly white—and eventually kills them.

  Restoring dead reefs is possible, but the process is difficult and expensive, and still leaves them vulnerable to future heatwaves. Now, scientists believe they’ve found a new way to protect them—at least, on a small scale.

• • Investigating the Interplay of Polar Sea
  Ice and Global Climate Dynamics.

  Maria Holland: Climate Scientist 2026
  
  {MacArthur Foundation}

  Oct. 3, 2026 -Marika Holland is a climate scientist investigating how polar sea ice is affected by and in turn impacts global climate dynamics. Holland primarily uses climate models that simulate Earth’s past and future climate system to unravel the physical processes underlying sea ice response to warming conditions. She then integrates her findings into climate models, thereby improving the models’ ability to predict changes in ice cover, global climate, and associated coastal and maritime ecosystems.

  Sea ice has a high surface albedo: it reflects most solar radiation back into space. Because of this reflectivity, it acts as a barrier between the ocean and the atmosphere, and its presence or absence dramatically changes how these Earth systems interact in polar regions.

• • Swiss Glaciers Vanished by Nearly a Fifth in Recent Years

  A Warning Sign” That Countries Need to Tackle Human-Driven Climate Change

  

  Oct. 1, 2026 -Glaciers in Switzerland have lost almost a fifth of their volume over the last five years, Swiss researchers said on Thursday, a stark reminder that Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent.

  More than 5 percent of Switzerland’s ice has disappeared in 2026 alone, the researchers said, as a winter with little snow was followed by a summer of broiling heat waves. Many small glaciers have fully disappeared already, they said.

• • Greece's Vanishing Lake Exposes Rapid Impact of Climate Change

  Scientists Cite Hotter Climate, Overuse of Irrigation Water

  

  Oct. 1, 2026 -Before drought took hold, Koroneia Lake in northern Greece was a protected wetland, a refuge for thousands of migratory and water birds including flamingos, and a magnet for tourists as well as local fishermen and farmers.

  Today, after a decade of low rainfall and over-irrigation, Koroneia, once the fifth largest lake in Greece, has shrunk to less than a tenth of its original size, according to data from the National Observatory of Athens. The water that remains is collected in a series of murky ponds and the exposed lake bed is a ?vast mud plain cracked and bleached by years of baking sun.

• • Australia and Pacific Leaders Meet to Sharpen Climate Goals

  In a Year of Record-Breaking Heat
  
  {THE CONVERSATION}

  Oct. 1, 2026 -Heatwaves in the United Kingdom, vast forest fires in Canada and flash flooding in Nepal – the evidence of climate change is everywhere. And no region faces a more existential threat than the Pacific, where residents of low-lying nations are witnessing the seas creep higher.

  On Monday, leaders and delegates from countries including Australia, Germany, Mexico and Thailand will meet in the Pacific nations of Fiji and Tuvalu. Their discussions aim to highlight the climate threats faced by small island nations and the need to rein in carbon emissions.

• • Heat-Trapping Gas Once Frozen in Arctic Ground
  is Slowly Leaking and Warming the Planet

  As Ted Schuur Stepped Along the Edges of Smith Lake, a Bubble Surfaced From the Muck Underfoot...

  

  Oct. 1, 2026 -They’re bubbles of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas made from decomposing plants and animals that had once been stuck in Alaska’s frigid permafrost. But that frozen ground is thawing because the Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the globe. For thousands of years that frozen ground stored dead plants and animals, but the accelerating thaw is allowing them to decay into methane and carbon dioxide.

• • May Heatwaves, Deaths, Ruined Harvests:
  Study of Europe’s Summer Paints Grim Picture For the Future

  EU Copernicus Report Shows Surface Air Temperatures From June to August Were 2.5C Above Decadal Average

  

  Oct. 1, 2026 -The scorching heat that persistently baked western Europe this summer was the worst on record, a report has found, with more than half the continent seared by “very strong” heat stress that felt hotter than 38C.

  Surface air temperatures in western Europe from June to August were 2.5C above the recent decadal average, according to an update from the EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring service on Friday, while milder but still deadly heat across the rest of the continent made the summer Europe’s third hottest on record.

• • Mass Heat Wave Deaths in Europe Show
  Climate Extremes Are Outpacing Adaptation Efforts

  As Preparement Lags, Many Regions Around the World Could Be Overwhelmed By Rising Temperatures

  

  Sept. 30, 2026 -A series of deadly heat waves from May to August overwhelmed Germany’s healthcare and emergency response systems and led to an estimated 16,000 heat-related deaths during the summer, the most heat mortalities ever recorded in the highly developed country.

  At the 2026 Extreme Weather Congress in Hamburg this month, experts from local and regional governments, hospitals and universities said that Germany’s advanced climate research and weather technology provided accurate forecasts of persistently dangerous high temperatures, but the death toll exposed gaps between scientific knowledge and the country’s adaptation efforts, as well as shortcomings in the emergency response.

• • World’s Oceans Absorbed Record Heat Equal
  to 40 Times Annual Global Energy Use

  The Injection of Thermal Energy Comes Amid an Increasing Rise In Sea Levels and Continuing Acidification

  

  Sept. 30, 2026 -A record-breaking 23 zettajoules of heat was sunk into the world’s seas last year, leaving ocean waters hotter, higher and less hospitable, a report has found.

  The explosive addition of thermal energy, which was almost 40 times greater than all the energy humanity used that year, comes amid far-reaching changes to the deep water bodies fundamental to life on Earth.

• • Committed Antarctic Ice Sheet Mass Loss By
  the End of the Twenty-First Century

  The Longer It Takes to Transition Away From Fossil Fuels Such As Coal, the More Costs Accrue As Climate Change Accelerates
  
  {nature geoscience}

  Sept. 30, 2026 -The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest source of uncertainty in sea-level rise projections, with uncertainties propagating through emissions scenarios, atmosphere–ocean general circulation models, ice-sheet dynamics and sea-level physics.

  In ice-sheet model intercomparison exercises, these uncertainties—typically attributed to intermodel differences—stem from modelling choices that may bias ensembles towards commonly adopted approaches regardless of observational consistency. Here we quantify how each individual physical assumption cascades into projection uncertainty using a machine-learning emulation framework, which also enables Bayesian calibration against satellite observations to reduce projection bias.

• • UK Regulator Drops Tougher Climate-
  Reporting Plans After Business Concerns

  Latest Retreat By Watchdogs From Tougher Climate Rules

  

  Sept. 30, 2026 -Britain's financial regulator has dropped plans to require listed companies to adopt a new climate-reporting standard, opting instead to retain a "comply or explain" approach after companies raised concerns about costs and competitiveness.

  The move makes the Financial Conduct Authority the latest regulator to pull back from stricter climate-disclosure rules as governments and watchdogs reassess reporting burdens on companies.

• • ‘ Starkest Warning Yet’ of Profound
  Changes Sweeping the Planet’s Oceans

  Warming, Rising Seas, and Ecosystem Degradation Are Interconnected Signs of Significant and Long-Term Change”
  
  {Common Dreams}

  Sept. 30, 2026 -The 10th annual Copernicus Ocean State Report, released Wednesday by a team of more than 100 international scientists, provided the latest reminder that, as one United Nations official said, “the ocean is one of the clearest indicators of the profound shifts” that the climate crisis is causing.

  Data gathered by Mercator Ocean International, the nonprofit that produced the report, revealed “an ocean warming at an alarming pace, with far-reaching consequences for marine life, coastlines, and communities worldwide,” said the group.

• • California Rushes to Prepare For Massive
  ‘Kelvin’ Wave and Predicted Sea Level Rise

  Wave Nearing Southern California Expected to Reach San Francisco Bay Area By October As It Crawls Toward Alaska

  

  Sept. 30, 2026 -Communities across California are rushing to prepare for the imminent arrival of the so-called “Kelvin wave”, a massive underwater band of warm water threatening to inundate swaths of the vast North American shoreline.

  The wave is nearing southern California and expected to reach the San Francisco Bay Area by early October, as it crawls toward Alaska. Waters could rise by a foot along the California coast, according to scientists, who have warned that this could dramatically double the 8-12in rise in sea levels already caused by climate change over the last century.

• • Hawaii’s Wicked Run of Hurricanes is a
  Preview of What El Niño Has In Store

  This Large Expanse of Record Ocean Warmth Has Fueled Widespread Rising Air and Thunderstorms Across the Eastern and Central Pacific

  

  Sept. 29, 2026 -Three hurricanes in the last month have given Hawaii a taste of what a record-setting El Niño will bring to many states this year.

  Before Hurricane Nolo veered away from the Aloha State, Hurricane Lowell and Hurricane Lala brought rain and flooding — knocking out power, washing out roads and destroying homes.

• • French Farmers Grow Tropical Fruit at
  Home Thanks to Warmer Weather

  Local Growers Turn Warmer Weather Into an Unexpected Agricultural Opportunity
  
  {HEALTY HAPPY NEWS}

  Sept. 28, 2026 -The rolling hills of southern France are now home to an unexpected sight. Banana, papaya, and mango trees are thriving where olives and grapes once dominated. The change has created new possibilities for local agriculture.

  Dominique Berdin is one of the pioneers embracing this shift. She tends a flourishing tropical fruit operation in the region. “I’m probably the only papaya grower in France!” says Dominique Berdin, laughing to the national station France24, when they visited her tropical fruit growing operation.

• • The Aral Sea, Once the World’s Fourth-
  Largest Inland Lake, Was Drained Dry

  Now It’s a Ticking Carbon Bomb
  
  { ZME SCIENCE}

  Sept. 28, 2026 -The Aral Sea sits between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and was once the fourth-largest inland body of water on Earth. For the past 60 years, though, humans have bled it nearly dry irrigating cotton crops, leaving behind a salty plain the size of Ireland. Its loss has long been seen as an ecological and humanitarian problem, but new research shows that it has also been a significant driver of climate change.

  The Aral Sea is technically a lake. But when nearly any body of water is full and works as it should, organic matter collects on the bottom, where it remains trapped, often for centuries or millennia.

• • Revealing the Invisible Injustice of Extreme Heat

  Thermal Imaging Shows How People Experience Scorching Heat Varies Depending On Their Circumstance

  

  Sept. 28, 2026 -The extreme heat scientists have warned about for decades came to Europe again this summer, killing at least 30,000 people like a silent, invisible plague. It came for poor people, the very young and very old, and those suffering from debilitating conditions.

  The final toll will likely be higher. A 2024 United Nations report estimated about 175,000 annual heat-related deaths across Europe, and total deaths in European Union countries spiked above 60,000 in 2022 and 2024.

• • With Storms on 2 Sides of the U.S., El Niño Shows Its Might

  Hurricanes Near Hawaii. A Nor’easter On the East Coast

  

  Sept. 26, 2026 -The powerhouse El Niño in the Pacific Ocean is making itself felt on two sides of the nation for the first, but probably not last, time this year.

  The nor’easter lashing the East Coast this weekend followed a path that can become more common for storms during El Niño, the climate phenomenon that originates in the tropical Pacific and goes on to influence rainfall, temperature and storms around the globe.

• • Climate Justice and Healing for Nepal

  After Nepal's floods This August, Researchers From The World Weather Attribution Group Rapidly Assessed The Event and Concluded That Climate Change Played a “major" Role In the Catastrophic Glacial Collapse
  
  {LOE.ORG}

  Sept. 25, 2026 -In the weeks following the deadly floods in Nepal this August, researchers from the World Weather Attribution group rapidly assessed the event, and concluded that climate change played a “very strong” role in the catastrophe. Warmer weather melted ice, thawed permafrost, and increased rainfall, destabilizing the glacier before its collapse.

  Nepal estimates that damages from the floods could exceed $4 billion. That’s over a tenth of the country’s total GDP.

• • 12 Trillion Tons of Melted Ice

  A Recent Study in the Journal Scientific Data Shows That Since 1979, Around 12.5 Trillion Tons of Ice Have Melted From Glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica
  
  {LOE.ORG}

  Sept. 25, 2026 -As the planet gets warmer, melting glaciers are wreaking havoc in places like Nepal and Tibet. And on a larger scale huge ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland are a massive driver behind sea level rise. A recent study in the journal Scientific Data shows that since 1979, around 12.5 trillion tons of ice have melted, just from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica.

  This study compared the research of several dozen scientists, working from NASA and European Space Agency satellite data to measure the change in glacier volume over the past half-century. And the melting has been speeding up, especially in the last two decades.

• • Climate Crisis Is No Longer a ‘Distant Warning,’ UN Leader Says

  The General Assembly Pledged to Help Countries Threatened By Sea-Level Rise, But Many Challenges Remain

  

  Sept. 25, 2026 -This week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York featured pleas for urgent action on climate change, with heads of state and Secretary-General António Guterres warning that the window for action is narrowing.

  Yet climate was a footnote amid the issues commanding public attention, including President Donald Trump’s talk of annihilating Iran, the walkout that preceded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech and growing concerns about the rapid rise of artificial intelligence.

• • Europe Must Spend Billions Now Or Face
  Mounting Climate Disaster Costs, EU Warns

  A Nightmare Summer of Fires, Droughts and Heatwaves Should Force Governments to Invest in Climate Proofing
  
  {POLITICO}

  Sept. 24, 2026 -This summer’s extremes show that governments must spend more on beefing up defenses against global warming or face an even steeper bill in the years to come, the European Union’s climate chief told POLITICO.

  Successive heat waves, worsening drought and monstrous wildfires have caused enormous damage over the past few months, with some economists estimating that the losses will wipe out the EU’s modest GDP growth for 2026.

• • Threatened by Rising Seas, Small Islands
  Secure Right to Keep Their Statehood

  Efforts to Protect Marine Ecosystems and Coastal Communities Have Risen Up the Political Agenda At the UN General Assembly in New York
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}

  Sept. 24 2026 -As rising seas submerge growing swathes of land, countries that lose territory should still keep their national boundaries, sovereign rights and UN membership, according to a political declaration adopted at the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday.

  The declaration, which was championed by climate-vulnerable small island states, affirms "the presumption in favour of continued statehood" in the face of sea level rise fuelled by climate change, and urges countries to work together to assist communities affected by encroaching oceans.

• • Top Dairy Exporter Fonterra Flags El Niño Risks to Milk Supply

  ?A Material Reduction In Milk Production Would Affect the Amount of Product Available to Process ?and Sell

  

  Sept. 23, 2026 -New Zealand's Fonterra (FCG.NZ), opens new tab on Thursday warned that El Niño could affect milk volume growth at the end of the 2026/27 season, as the weather phenomenon heightens risk of extreme weather events and impacts global crop output.

  El Niño — a periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific caused by weakening trade winds — is set to intensify further into 2027 and could be the ?strongest ever, according to the World Meteorological Organization, potentially fueling extreme weather such as droughts and typhoons.

• • Hurricane Polo off Mexican Coast
  is Among 'the Strongest Storms Ever '

  Fueled By El Niño
  
  {(7)EYEWITNESS NEWS}

  Sept. 23, 2026 -Polo has grown into one of the most powerful Pacific cyclones in decades and was expected to skirt Mexico's southwestern coast as a major hurricane, while another Pacific system, Odalys, strengthened Wednesday from a tropical storm to a hurricane without threatening land.

  The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami has called Polo an "extremely dangerous" storm and forecast the system would turn sharply to the northwest before moving west-northwest over the next several days.

• • UK pledges £331 Million to Address Climate-Linked Security Risks

  Risks Not Previously Predicted

  

  Sept. 23, 2026 -Britain said on Wednesday it would provide £331 million ($438.24 million) to help tackle climate change and biodiversity loss-driven instability, warning that environmental shocks are increasingly becoming a national security threat.

  The government said the funding would go to the Global Environment Facility to support food and water security and protect ecosystems, including forests in the Amazon and Congo Basin.

• • Where a Powerful Nor’easter Could Hit Hardest This Weekend

  Wind Gusts of 50 to 70 MPH and Waves of 10 to 15 Feet Could Pound Parts of the Coast
  
  

  Sept. 23, 2026 -This weekend is shaping up to be a stormy one for millions of people living in the Northeast.

  The forecast is trending toward a powerful, slow-moving and rare September nor’easter that tracks closer to the coast. Because the storm will coincide with higher-than-normal tides, concerns about dangerous coastal flooding and beach erosion are rising.

• • A Departing U.N. Chief’s Dire Warning on Climate Change

  António Guterres Looks Back On His Efforts to Stop Climate Change

  

  Sept. 22, 2026 -From the moment he took over as United Nations Secretary General in 2017, António Guterres has been raising the alarm about climate change.

  He called it the “defining issue of our time” and urged countries to embrace renewable energy and phase out the fossil fuels that are dangerously warming the planet. He has called for an end to subsidies for oil and gas, and bans on fossil fuel advertising.

• • Photographer Captures Octopus Riding a
  Rarely Seen Dolphin Off the UK Coast '

  An Extraordinary Photograph Reveals How Rapidly Warming Waters Can Rearrange Who Eats Whom
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  Sept. 22, 2026 -In photographs taken off Berry Head in Devon, England, a common octopus has wrapped its arms around the tall dorsal fin of a Risso’s dolphin, apparently hanging on as the much larger animal moves through the water.

  The encounter occurred during an extraordinary boom in common octopuses along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall — the largest recorded there in at least 75 years. Researchers suspect unusually warm seas and shifting currents helped create the conditions for the surge. Now predators appear to be taking advantage of the sudden abundance.

• • Newsom Declares State of Emergency to Prepare For El Niño in CA

  To Prepare For a Potentially Severe El?Niño Winter That Could Bring Heavy Rain, Snow, Strong Winds, Flooding, Landslides and Coastal Hazards
  
  {USA TODAY}

  Sept. 22, 2026 -The state of California is under a state of emergency to prepare for what officials say may be a severe winter weather season fueled by an unprecedented El Niño that could bring heavy rain and snow, strong winds, flooding, landslides and more.

  Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state of emergency on Sept. 21 and said it would help mobilize state resources and prepare infrastructure and emergency supplies ahead of time.

• • Could Abandoned Mines House
  Pennsylvania’s Unwanted Data Centers?

  As Opposition to Data Centers Grows, Researchers Eye the State’s Thousands of Acres of Polluted Mine Lands As Potential Solutions

  

  Sept. 22, 2026 -Almost nobody wants a data center for a neighbor. Residents fear noise and air pollution, excessive energy and water use and the loss of open land. In Pennsylvania, a hot spot for new data centers, researchers see an opportunity to solve some of these issues by taking advantage of a much older environmental hazard: abandoned coal mines.

  Pennsylvania has the most abandoned coal mines in the country, totaling around 5,586 sites across the state.

• • Windy Coastal Storm Could Be a Bummer For Fall
  Foliage, Massachusetts' Drought-Impacted Trees

  The Formation of an Expected Coastal Storm Could Put a Damper On New England's Iconic Autumn Foliage
  
  {WCVB5}

  Sept. 22, 2026 -Prior to the forecasting of this storm, the foliage forecast for the season was looking promising. An uptick in rainfall during the second half of the summer helped to partially relieve drought conditions, and a strong El Niño was expected to help limit the cold air coming from our north.

• • Competing Climate Visions Clash at UN General Assembly

  Trump Says One Thing. Environmentalists Say Another

  

  Sept. 22, 2026 -Two divergent worldviews emerged from the first two national addresses on the opening day of the United Nations General Assembly’s 81st session in New York.

  Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for decarbonizing economies, protecting forests and supporting the energy transition through technology transfer. U.S. President Donald Trump followed with a rejection of global climate and artificial intelligence regulations, dismissing warnings about global warming while presenting fossil fuel abundance and technological supremacy as foundations of national power..

• • The California Surf Spot With Epic
  Waves—and Rusty Metal Spikes

  Beach Erosion Has Uncovered Century-Old Hazards at the Wedge in Newport Beach, But...
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  Sept. 22, 2026 -Ronan Collins is used to navigating giant waves and unpredictable currents when he paddles his surfboard out near the inlet that bisects this ultrawealthy beach town. He’s still getting to know the boulders, wooden pilings and shards of rusty metal.

  Southern California’s most dangerous surf spot, the Wedge, has become even sketchier in recent months.

• • Wildfires Driven By Global Heating Destroy UK Bird Habitats

  Hot and Dry Summer Created Conditions For Fires in Scotland and England...

  

  Sept. 21, 2026 -Major wildfires this summer in the Cairngorms, along the Suffolk coast and in the New Forest have destroyed huge swathes of important bird habitats, affecting the populations of some of our most threatened and specialised species.

  The first to break out, in mid-July, destroyed much of the RSPB’s Abernethy reserve, home to declining species such as black grouse and capercaillie, as well as scarce songbirds including Scottish crossbill and crested tit. Fortunately it was brought under control before it reached the village of Nethy Bridge, whose residents were briefly evacuated.

• • The Ongoing El Niño Has Officially Reached Record Levels

  The U.S. Will Probably Experience the Biggest Effects

  

  Sept. 21, 2026 -What started as a wind shift in a remote stretch of the western Pacific Ocean nine months ago has developed into an El Niño of record proportions.

  In a sparsely populated portion of the central equatorial Pacific Ocean called the Niño 3.4 region, the average ocean temperature on Saturday reached 3.05°C (5.49°F) above average, the highest peak sea surface temperature anomaly on record.

• • Britain’s Hospitals Were Not Built for 96-Degree Summers

  ‘Way Too Hot’

  

  Sept. 21, 2026 -It was the fifth heat wave of the summer.

  By late morning one day last month, the air inside Queen’s Medical Center in Nottingham, England, was thick and uncomfortable. Sweat glistened on the faces of staff members hurrying around the sprawling hospital. Patients tossed in their beds.

  “It’s just getting to be way too hot; I am saying my prayers waiting for it to stop,” said Celia Burgess, 78, who was in a geriatric unit with two portable fans blowing in her direction. “I mean, they are trying, but it’s not much good. It’s these old hospitals.”

• • Babies ‘Will Face Almost Twice As Much’ Extreme
  Fire Weather in Europe than Their Great-Grandparents

  Children Born After 2025 Will Experience Three More Years of Brutally Fire-Conducive Weather As Global Heating Intensifies

  

  Sept. 21, 2026 -European babies will face almost twice as much extreme fire weather as their great-grandparents if climate action does not ramp up quickly, a study has found.

  Global heating under current policies will expose a child born in Europe in 2025 to three more years of brutally fire-conducive weather over their lifetime than someone born in 1950, the researchers found.

• • Cape Town Nearly Became the First
  Major City to Run Out of Water

  Cape Town’s Near Day Zero Crisis Offers a Stark Warning For Cities Facing Growing Water Stress
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  Sept. 21, 2026 -When Doctor Anthony Turton, a South African-born water scientist and leading thinker on water security and hydropolitics, did an interview with BBC News to speak about the water crisis in South Africa, he never knew how his life was about to change. The single interview was broadcast to communities across the globe, awakening countless professionals to the importance of honouring water resources.

• • Macron Asks EU to Relax Energy and
  Climate Rules to Ease Soaring Fuel Prices

  Cape Town’s Near Day Zero Crisis Offers a Stark Warning For Cities Facing Growing Water Stress
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  Sept. 21, 2026 -When Doctor Anthony Turton, a South African-born water scientist and leading thinker on water security and hydropolitics, did an interview with BBC News to speak about the water crisis in South Africa, he never knew how his life was about to change. The single interview was broadcast to communities across the globe, awakening countless professionals to the importance of honouring water resources.

• • How Saudi Oil Scientists Ended Up Working
  On the World’s Most Important Climate Reports

  Fossil Fuel Links of IPCC Authors, With Experts Declaring the Body’s Conflict of Interest Policy ‘Not Fit For Purpose’

  

  Sept. 21, 2026 -On her first day as an expert author on the world’s most important climate reports, Prof Julia Steinberger knew nobody else, so she sat down at a stranger’s table for breakfast.

  “Hi, I’m Julia. I’m from the University of Lausanne,” she said. The man across the table replied: “I’m Mustafa Babiker. I work with Saudi Aramco.”

  Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, is responsible for more of the carbon emissions driving the escalating climate crisis than any other company in history, and the kingdom has long been a major blocker of climate action.

• • World Leaders in New York to Grapple With Climate

  Fuel Prices, AI and Disasters Complicate Things

  

  Sept. 21, 2026 -World and business leaders gathering this week in New York are grappling with the increasingly urgent costs of climate change , soaring energy prices and the human toll from this summer’s oppressive heat waves , prolific wildfires and a catastrophic Nepal flood.

  Every year as top government officials attend the United Nations General Assembly and business executives flock to New York City Climate Week sessions, global warming generates lots of talk but little action.

• • Climate Super-Pollutant from China’s
  Electric Grid Is Cooking the Planet

  The Nation’s Electric Utilities Release Vast Quantities of the World’s Most Potent Greenhouse Gas

  

  Sept. 20, 2026 -China’s electric grid has a dirty secret: Despite leading the world in renewable energy expansion, it is also the largest emitter of the planet’s most potent greenhouse gas.

  Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is a synthetic chemical that plays a critical role as an electrical insulator in high-voltage equipment. The gas is odorless, invisible, non-toxic and non-flammable. But it is also a climate killer, 24,300 times more effective at warming the planet than carbon dioxide on a pound-for-pound basis. Once released, sulfur hexafluoride remains in the atmosphere for 1,000 years.

• • U.N. Chief’s Test: Shaming Without
  Naming the World’s Climate Delinquents

  António Guterres Told World Leaders Gathered in New York That Their Efforts to Address the Climate Crisis Had Come Up “Abysmally Short.”

  

  Sept. 19, 2026 -The world’s top diplomat, António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, on Tuesday told world leaders their efforts to address the climate crisis had come up “abysmally short” and called on them to do what even climate-ambitious countries have been reluctant to do: stop expanding coal, oil and gas production.

• • Iconic St. Mary’s Glacier Has Disappeared
  For Frst Time in Over a Century

  Future Snowfalls Can Replenish the Perennial Snowfield, But...
  
  {THE COLORADO SUN}

  Sept. 18, 2026 -Colorado’s iconic St. Mary’s Glacier has melted away for the first time in at least a century, a victim of rising temperatures in the high country, according to a glaciologist with Colorado State University.

  For decades, the perennial patch of snow and ice (that is, in fact, not a glacier) offered a rare and accessible year-round destination near Idaho Springs for skiers and a summertime escape for visitors looking to find snow.

• • Al Gore Is Still Sounding the Alarm About Climate Change

  The Former Vice President Will Speak Today On the Topic, in Advance of Climate Week

  

  Sept. 18, 2026 -It has been 20 years since the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” came out, and former Vice President Al Gore — who wrote and narrated it — continues to make a moral argument about the dangers of a warming planet. Today he will take it to a church.

• • Fight Intensifies Over the Fate of Homes Falling Into the Sea

  California Homeowners Are Building a Costly Rock Wall to Hold Back the Ocean

  

  Sept. 18, 2026 -Natalie Driessen drove down Beach Road on a mission, past neighbors whose houses fell into the sea and others now scrambling to prevent their property from collapsing next.

  She had a video from March that she wanted everyone to see. When she spotted an Orange County supervisor outside what was left of one mangled kitchen and living room, Driessen pulled out her phone to play the clip of the California Coastal Commission — the powerful state agency tasked with preserving beaches — discussing a home in her gated community.

• • Greenland and Antarctica Have
  Lost 12 Trillion Tonnes of Ice Since 1979

  Ice Loss Began Accelerating In the 1990s, According to a Major Scientific Study
  
  {euro news}

  Sept. 18, 2026 -Greenland and Antarctica have lost 12.5 trillion tonnes of ice since 1979, raising global sea levels by around 3.2 centimetres, according to a major scientific study.

  The researchers found that ice loss has accelerated in recent decades, particularly since the 1990s.

  Most of the loss is linked to warmer ocean temperatures, which cause glaciers to discharge more ice into the sea.

• • British People Understand the Climate Crisis Threat

  Today I’m Empowering Them to Tackle It

  

  Sept. 17, 2026, by Andy Burham -On the day I became prime minister, I pledged to bring power to every postcode. Today, we begin to make good on that promise in the most literal sense. With nearly £30m of funding for People’s Power projects, communities across every nation of the UK will soon have the chance to build and control their own clean energy supply.

• • Some Visitors to St. Mary’s Glacier Surprised By Disappearance

  Some people Heading Out to Visit St. Mary’s Glacier in Clear Creek County Are in For a Big Surprise
  
  {FOX31}

  Sept. 17, 2026 -FOX31 hiked to the site Thursday and found a large and empty space where snow and ice once sat. The area is still just as stunning, even without the ice and snow. But the landscape looks dramatically different from what visitors saw just a few years ago.

  In August 2024, FOX31 visited the glacier, which was already shrinking. Scientists cited warming temperatures and a lack of snowfall this season as being to blame.

• • Climate Change Had Major Role In Triggering Nepal Floods

  The Combined Toll From The Deadly Incident Now Stands at 1,446 People Dead and At Least 6,669 Missing
  
  {ALAJAZEERA}

  Sept. 17, 2026 -Scientists say climate change was a core contributing factor in last month’s deadly glacial mountain collapse that flooded parts of Nepal and Tibet, killing more than 1,400 people and leaving thousands still missing.

  Researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group said in a report released on Thursday that the disaster was not caused by a single extreme weather event, but rather a “compound crisis” shaped by long-term warming, glacier retreat, permafrost thaw and geological instability.

• • Warm Ocean Mystery Triggers Massive Antarctic Snowfall

  Adding 695 Billion Tons of Ice
  
  {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS}

  Sept. 17, 2026 -A warming pool of tropical ocean water has been shown to be the cause of immense snowstorms over East Antarctica which contributed to a net gain of 695 billion tons of ice between 2021 and 2023. To put that tonnage into perspective, it’s about 4 years of annual ice loss according to a 2 decade study.

  The research team found that unusual atmospheric patterns transported warm tropical moisture directly to the frozen continent, creating record-breaking snowfall events that more than compensated for typical ice loss during this period.

• • 2025 Was Among Driest Years
  On Record For World’s Rivers

  Analysis of Global Resources Reveals Depletion In World’s Water Savings Bank to 42% Below Normal Levels Last Year

  

  Sept. 17, 2026 -Rivers across the world experienced one of their driest years in more than three decades in 2025, a comprehensive study of global water resources has found.

  The assessment of the global water cycle by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reveals a depletion in the world’s water savings bank: the amount of freshwater held on or under the ground, including groundwater, lakes, rivers, snow, ice moisture in the soil and inside plants and trees, was 42% below normal across the world last year.

• • The Surprising Reason There Have
  Been No Atlantic Hurricanes This Year

  El Niño Isn’t the Only Factor. Another Force Could Be Contributing to Fewer Storms and a Later Peak In the Season

  

  Sept. 16, 2026 -In the last 175 years of record-keeping, there have only been two years that featured zero hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean: 1907 and 1914.

  And in those years before satellites, it’s possible that some hurricanes may have been missed in the historical record.

• • Rising Seas Are Gobbling Up Beaches Around the World

  A.I. Might Restore Them

  

  Sept.16, 2026 -As the world’s oceans grow ever warmer and the seas rise ever higher, coastlines are retreating at a record pace. And with the rising tides, thousands of coastal communities are at risk. The United Nations warns that as many as 1.2 billion people could be displaced by 2050.

  But in the Maldives, a low-lying archipelago in the Indian Ocean, researchers are doing something remarkable: They’re growing beaches.

• • The Humble Tree Hole Turn Out
  to Be a Remarkable Climate Refuge

  A New Analysis Shows That Cavities Inside Trees Can Run Several Degrees Cooler Than the Surrounding Air During Heatwaves

  

  Sept. 16, 2026 -Just as humans head indoors for warmth in the winter and shade in the summer, tree-dwelling animals use the arboreal equivalent of caves for refuge from temperature extremes.

  At a time when climate change is supercharging heatwaves, holes and crevices in trees offer potentially life-saving cool spots for bats, birds and other creatures around the world, according to new research. When peak temperatures cross into heatwave territory, these holes are often more than 4°C cooler than the outside, according to a review of dozens of studies recently published in Forest Ecology and Management.

• • Earth Lost More Than 12 Trillion Tons of
  Ice From Greenland, Antarctica In 47 Years

  The Numbers Behind the Melting Ice Are Both Mind-Bogglingly Huge and Deceptively Small
  
  {NBC NEWS}

  Sept. 16, 2026 -About 12.5 trillion tons (11.3 trillion metric tons) of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979, which is enough frozen water to stack ice five feet deep across the continental United States, according to a major scientific report.

  A warming Earth is accelerating the melting of the planet’s two major ice sheets, with five-sixths of the melt not coming from hotter air, but from warmer waters eating away at the ice sheets from below and the sides, with glaciers flowing into the oceans, according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Scientific Data<. That’s bad news for future sea level rise, the study’s authors said.

• • France Recorded At Least 817 Excess
  Deaths During July 27-August 20 Heatwaves

  The Count Includes All Deaths Regardless of Their Cause

  

  Sept. 16, 2026 -France recorded at least 817 excess deaths between July 27 and August 20, when the country was hit by exceptionally high temperatures, the national health agency said on Wednesday.

  This would bring the total recorded so far to ?about 8,000 excess deaths since June and the start of a series of heatwaves

• • This Year’s El Niño Is Expected to Be the Most Powerful Yet

  Early Indicators Point to Extreme Weather, With the Pacific Rim Already Hit and More Likely In Store For the U.S.
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  Sept. 15, 2026 -This year’s El Niño is heating up to be one of the strongest on record.

  The global weather disrupter has already stoked wildfires in Asia, hurricanes in the Pacific and fishery closures in South America.

  The worst may be yet to come. The World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency, recently forecast that a very strong El Niño will persist through winter, warning of flooding, drought and extreme heat.

• • Disaster Survivors Sticking Together

  Grace, Humanity and Friendship in the Stories of Disparate Americans Hit By Climate Chaos

  

  Sept. 15, 2026, By David Gelles -Extreme weather is hitting more people with each passing year. Thirty-eight percent of Americans say their community has been affected by severe storms, floods or fires in the past year, according to Gallup.

  So when I set out to write about those whose lives had been upended by extreme weather, I knew it wouldn’t be too hard to turn up examples.

• • El Nino Reaches Super Status: Where
  Will It Bring Rain, Drought and Heat?

  Forecasters Say the Pacific Ocean Warming Pattern Could Be the Strongest On Record
  
  {ALJAZEERA}

  Sept. 15, 2026, -A powerful El Nino is taking shape in the Pacific, and it is reshaping weather across the globe.

  El Nino is a natural climate pattern caused by warmer-than-usual water in the central and eastern Pacific.

  Data from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), released on September 14, 2026, shows El Nino has breached the temperature rise threshold of 2C (3.6F), thus becoming “very strong”, informally known as a super El Nino.

• • Is Wildfire Risk Increasing in the Midwest?

  The Fires That Just burned Through Minnesota May Be a Sign of More to Come

  

  Sept. 14, 2026 -On the night of July 6, a storm moved over northern Minnesota near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The boreal forest there, composed of species like balsam fir, spruce and pine, was extremely dry after a flash drought and unusually warm temperatures sapped the trees of their moisture.

  As the storm blew across the sky, rain didn’t even reach the ground. Many of the 700 lightning strikes did.

• • As the Fight for a Key Climate Goal Falters,
  Some Begin a Fight for Survival

  Vulnerable Countries That Fought For That Paris Agreement Target Face a Brutal New Reality.

  

  Sept. 14, 2026 -The most ambitious part of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, only came about because of a campaign by some of the world’s poorest and most defenseless countries.

  Caribbean participants tacked up posters saying “1.5 to stay alive,” and the prime minister of Tuvalu said any temperature rise beyond that mark would “spell the total demise” of his and other low-lying island nations. In the final stage of negotiations, some were chanting, “1.5.”

• • Trump Administration Removes Climate
  Pollution Limits On Power Plants

  The Announcement Was Made Monday at a Meeting of G20 Energy Ministers In Houston, Texas.
  
  {CNN Climate}

  Sept. 14, 2026, - The Trump administration has finalized the repeal of regulations that limit the amount of planet-heating pollution coal and gas-fired power plants are allowed to produce, the latest step in a sweeping effort to dismantle climate and clean air protections.

  “For over 15 years, the Obama and Biden administrations implemented a war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy. The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on,” said Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

• • Wealthy Europeans Are Moving North as Temperatures Climb

  Regions of Northern Spain, France and Italy Become More Attractive For Buyers As Wildfires and Droughts Hit Southern Hot Spots
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  Sept. 13, 2026 -After nearly a decade in Spain’s Costa del Sol, the heat was becoming unbearable for Gabriele Pohl. Temperatures soaring above 100 degrees Fahrenheit were making it difficult to go out during the day, and water shortages were making her business, which uses horses to coach business leaders, untenable.

  Last winter, she and her husband moved to Tomiño, a small town in Galicia, in northern Spain, close to the Portuguese border. “You go northwest if you want enough water, you want good temperatures, you want green fields, you want good food and good wine,” said Pohl, 58 years old.

• The National Climate Change Assessment
• 6 Things We Can Do About Climate Change
• Climate Change Positive Thoughts (free e-Book)
• Get the Climate Lab Book
• Interactive Climate Map 2050 (CC Consequences)
• The People's Dosier on Climate Change

• Global Warming Report from NOAA
• Another Good Global Warming Resource
• More Climate Change Resources
• NY Times Climate Forward: (Climate Change Q&A)
• Carbon Fee & Dividend Video
• Interactive Air Pollution Map 2100