One of the biggest upheavals in a millennium is on its way, strengthened by the climate crisis. We need leaders who make things better not worse
If you think you have heard enough about the growing “super” El Niño, trust me, you are going to hear a lot more. What is happening in the equatorial Pacific is jaw-dropping and could well mark one of the biggest global weather upheavals in a millennium. It will spawn a string of weather catastrophes around our world in what remains of this year and in 2027, and there is no reason to think the UK will be immune.
To recap briefly, El Niño involves a heating of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific ocean. It happens every few years and is part of a natural cycle termed the El Niño southern oscillation, which switches between warm (El Niño) and cool (La Niña) phases. El Niños that see heating reach or exceed 2C are defined as “super” but this one, which is forecast to top-out at an astonishing 4C later this year, is so much bigger, the term “hyper” might be more appropriate.
Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL. His latest book is The Fate of the World: A History and Future of the Climate Crisis
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/15/2026 - 00:00
09/15/2026 - 00:00
As human development and roads increasingly fragment their habitats, a study suggests traffic noise could be altering the animals’ wake-up call
Dawn has broken, and the air is cool and still. It’s at about this time that gibbons usually erupt into song, wa-oo-ing and wa-ing from the highest branches and filling the tree tops with rich melodies. But in this corner of Malaysian forest, bordered by housing and roads, the resident white-handed gibbons are quiet. All that can be heard is the hum of traffic from a nearby highway.
This isn’t a rare occurrence for this group of gibbons, according to research, which found these particular gibbons, named Mambang and Walinong, appeared to be producing far fewer morning songs than others that are not exposed to the same level of traffic noise.
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09/14/2026 - 21:43
Latest daily reductions will further choke one of the world’s most important shipping lanes
The Panama canal plans to again cut maritime traffic due to worsening drought caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon, further choking up one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
The canal handles 5% of global maritime trade and about 40% of US container traffic; it is favoured by shippers because it usually reduces cost and transit times, especially for companies trading between China, Asia and the US.
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09/14/2026 - 20:36
Between 2000 and 2018, extreme heat caused more deaths in Australia than all our bushfires, floods, storms and cyclones combined
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Back in April 2004, in the shadow of the previous European summer, I started work at Downing Street advising the British prime minister on climate change. The 2003 heatwave had killed an estimated 70,000 people across Europe. Many were older people, in homes and neighbourhoods ill-equipped for prolonged heat.
In May this year, I walked through Bordeaux with my 83-year-old mother-in-law in 38C heat. I saw how quickly heat changes the terms of ordinary life. Streets emptied. Shade became essential. The question was not simply the temperature, but whether people could work, sleep or remain safely at home.
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09/14/2026 - 17:57
Republican Greg Abbott says datacenters must help ‘protect’ drought-prone state and disclose water use
Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, has directed state regulators to penalize datacenters that fail to comply with state laws requiring them to disclose their water use.
“Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water,” the Republican governor said on Monday. “The Texas Water Code requires a complete and accurate water use survey. I direct the Texas Water Development Board to use its enforcement authority to penalize past failures and to impose legal consequences for any future failure to comply,” he added.
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09/14/2026 - 15:42
Energy Transfer, whose CEO is a major Trump donor, named as biggest single methane producer in new rankings
Down a short gravel track in a largely nondescript corner of Louisiana sits a gas processing facility, operated by a company whose chief executive is a major donor to Donald Trump. It may be the largest emitter of methane in the US.
The Energy Transfer site, located near the city of Shreveport, is named as the biggest single “super emitter” in new rankings of US oil and gas operations for the largest releases of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that is rapidly overheating our planet, according to a new UCLA study, which is based on satellite data.
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09/14/2026 - 14:53
Cal Fire official says Sunday was ‘big turning point’ to reduce blaze in Lake county, now 30% contained
Firefighters made progress toward containing northern California’s Lucas fire, state officials said on Sunday.
Fire officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, which has burned more than 4,120 acres across Lake and Mendocino counties. The fire was 30% contained by Monday morning, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection, or Cal Fire.
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09/14/2026 - 12:38
Teen was swimming at a popular spot at the time of the attack, the latest in a string that have occurred in the state
A 13-year-old Maryland boy is reported to be recovering from multiple surgeries and nerve damage after being attacked by a rabid beaver.
The teen, Dominick Cebula, was swimming at a popular spot in Cunningham Falls state park in Thurmont, Maryland, on 26 July when a beaver attacked his chest underwater, a relatively rare kind of encounter that more recently has been recurring, according to reporting from local news outlets.
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09/14/2026 - 10:00
Batteries now meet almost half of the grid’s dispatchable power needs during hours of highest demand
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Australia’s dependence on gas for power during the evening, when the grid is under the most pressure, has fallen by almost nearly 70% over the past year as batteries surged in, replacing the fossil fuel.
Gas generation during the busy early evening, between 5pm and 8pm, fell by 67% in the year to August, as large-scale batteries continued to come online and 500,000 home batteries were installed under the government’s subsidy program, analysis by consultancy EnergyEdge found.
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09/14/2026 - 10:00
Pauline Hanson’s gas policy and the party’s relationship with Rinehart is examined in a new Guardian podcast series, The Populist
Listen: The Populist: Aeroplanes and bulldozers | Episode 1 – podcast
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One Nation has come under fire for quietly shelving support for a new domestic gas reservation policy in preference for a policy that favours the party’s billionaire patron, Gina Rinehart.
The Albanese government has announced it will establish a new reservation policy for Australia’s east coast, requiring gas exporters to supply a portion of the gas they produce to the domestic market. The policy is aimed at “modestly” supplying the domestic market to put downward pressure on prices for consumers.
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