A UK plan to prepare the countryside for wildfires from 2023 was never started, and over half of 29 fire services lack wildfire gear

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24 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Polo's rain floods the US Midwest

   Rain left over from Hurricane Polo, which hit Mexico's Pacific coast earlier in the week, flooded towns across the central United States. [7] Lincoln, Nebraska, had 6.1 inches on 30 September, its wettest day on record, and Omaha's fire service made 80 water rescues in three hours. [7] Parts of Texas were in drought: at Dallas Fort Worth airport no rain fell for 67 days, from 16 July to 20 September. [16] In Mexico's Sonora state, hundreds of people were still out of their homes. [7]

   Why it matters — Hurricane Rachel reached Category 3 off Mexico on Thursday, in a Pacific season experts link to El Nino. [7] The same warming has kept the Atlantic quiet, with no hurricane in September for the first time in more than 30 years. [8]

2. 03

   US ocean monitors go back to sea

   A 238-foot research ship set out on Saturday to put back the first batch of deep-sea monitors the US government had started to remove. [17] The network of 900 instruments, worth $368 million, sat off Oregon, Washington State, Alaska and North Carolina, and between Greenland and Iceland. [17] It measures currents, sea life and undersea volcanoes. [17] The National Science Foundation, the US agency that funds basic science, began removing it in late 2025, though it was built to run 15 more years. [17] Scientists, fishermen and Congress pushed back. [17]

   Why it matters — Weather forecasters, climate scientists and fishing fleets use the data. [17] It matters more now, because a strong El Nino is changing the Pacific's weather and fisheries. [17]

3. 04

   FedEx orders 2,000 electric trucks

   FedEx, the US parcel company, ordered 2,000 electric box trucks from Harbinger, a US start-up, in a deal reported to be worth more than $300 million. [10] It is one of the largest firm orders for electric delivery trucks so far. [10] Harbinger says each truck cuts fuel costs by about $20,000 a year against the diesel truck it replaces, and lasts 20 years. [10] FedEx aims to run an all-electric fleet by 2040. [10]

   $300M+Price of the order

   vsvs

   $800MDiesel saved in 20 years

   Why it matters — Electrek works out about $800 million saved over 20 years from Harbinger's own figures. [10] Harbinger's chief executive said the order shows electric trucks make business sense for large fleets. [10]

4. 05

   Los Angeles bakes in October

   A long heatwave began in southern California on Friday, and the US National Weather Service expects it to last at least a week. [5] Downtown Los Angeles was forecast near 100F, about 38C, with hotter days inland. [5] A UCLA professor said Friday was nearly 7F hotter than any 2 October on record. [5] October heatwaves come from high air pressure parked over the region, and this year a marine heatwave offshore adds to them. [5]

   Why it matters — Hot weather and dry soil raise the wildfire risk, though no strong winds are forecast yet. [5] Heatwaves grow likelier and longer with every half-degree of global warming, a UCLA physicist said. [5]

5. 06

   Coral bleaches again as El Nino grows

   Hot seas have bleached coral this year around Florida, on Panama's Pacific coast and in Kiribati in the central Pacific, Nature reports. [6] Bleaching is when coral pushes out the tiny algae that feed it, and it can kill the coral. [6] It comes less than a year after the last global bleaching ended in 2025. [6] Hard coral cover in 2020-2024 was 9.5% lower than in 1980-2009, and it fell 8.9% in 2024 alone. [6] Scientists expect worse in 2027, when El Nino peaks. [6]

   Why it matters — Researchers are trying new rescues, from moving coral to deeper, cooler water to playing the sounds of a healthy reef underwater. [6] In tests, coral larvae that heard those sounds settled almost twice as often. [6]

6. 07

   A third of US home solar comes with a battery

   37% of new US home solar systems came with a battery in 2025, up from 25% the year before, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found. [12] The laboratory is a US government research centre, and its data covers about 450,000 systems built that year. [12] In California the share was 74%, after a 2023 rule cut what homes are paid for power they send to the grid. [12] Outside California it rose from 7% to 17%. [12]

   202425%

   202537%

   Why it matters — When selling spare daytime power pays less, storing it for the evening is worth more. [12] Installers in other states face similar changes to how exported power is paid, so the same push is spreading. [12]

7. 08

   Brazil's grid has room for batteries

   Brazil's grid has room to connect about 56 gigawatts of big batteries ahead of auctions on 2 and 4 December, the Brazilian Association of Energy Storage Solutions calculated. [14] It used a note from the national grid operator published on 30 September. [14] The association expects a power shortfall of 4.5 to 10 gigawatts in 2028-2030. [14] Developers registered 6,091 projects, totalling 296.8 gigawatts, for the auctions. [14]

   Expected shortfall, 2028-30 (high end)10 GW

   Room on the grid for batteries56 GW

   Why it matters — With plenty of room and many bidders, price should decide which projects win, which the association says helps power users. [14] Batteries at chosen substations get a 10% bonus, because they can help keep the grid's voltage steady. [14]

8. 09

   US fishermen turn on Trump over costs

   Some US commercial fishermen who voted for President Donald Trump now blame his policies for their rising costs, AP reports. [11] Diesel, which their boats burn, has reached about $6 a gallon during the war with Iran, against under $4 a year ago. [11] Staff cuts at NOAA, the US agency that runs fisheries and weather forecasting, have slowed its help and reduced the weather balloons fishermen rely on. [11] A trade war with Canada has hurt crab markets. [11]

   Why it matters — Fishing matters in close midterm races in Washington, Alaska and Maine. [11] Fishermen were also among those who pushed back against removing the US ocean monitors. [17]

9. 10

   National Trust: not every site can be saved

   A manager at the National Trust, the British charity that looks after historic houses and land, said protecting every heritage site from climate change may not be possible. [18] Justin Scully, who runs Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, said heat, heavy rain and wildfire risk already harm its gardens, moors and buildings. [18] Heavy rain can soak into walls, and dry spells can make the ground sink. [18] The trust is planning for the next 40 years and gets no guaranteed government money. [18]

   Why it matters — It asked for a Cabinet-level minister to lead climate preparation across government. [18] The request came the same weekend England's wildfire programme was found never to have started. [1]

10. 11

    Sodium batteries reach homes

    Unigrid, a San Diego company, has shipped its first 100 home batteries made with sodium instead of lithium and expects to ship 1,000 by the end of the year, the BBC reports. [13] Requests have come from Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, where people want to store cheap power to run air conditioning in heatwaves. [13] Sodium batteries could be cheaper and less likely to catch fire. [13] In Germany, Revolta won about 264,000 euros of EU money to build a sodium battery for flats. [19]

    Why it matters — China makes most sodium cells today, and Unigrid buys its cells there for now. [13] Germany began letting home batteries take power from the grid and sell it back on 1 October, which makes them more worth owning. [19]

11. 12

    Mercedes drops two US electric models

    Mercedes-Benz will stop selling its EQE electric saloon and its $180,000 electric Maybach SUV in the US for the 2027 model year, Electrek reports. [20] Both belong to its first generation of electric cars, which it is replacing with newer models such as the CLA, from $47,250. [20] Kia, the South Korean carmaker, is offering up to $10,000 off some electric cars in the US as its cheapest, the EV3 at about $30,000, reaches showrooms. [21]

    Why it matters — Kia sold just over 500 EV3s in its first full month and wants a fourth record sales year in a row. [21] Both carmakers are putting their weight behind cheaper electric models. [20][21]

12. 13

    A battery graphite maker seeks a buyer

    Vianode, a Norwegian company that makes synthetic graphite for car batteries, is looking for a partner or a buyer, its chief executive told Reuters. [22] Graphite forms the anode, one of the two ends inside a battery. [22] China controls about 95% of the world's battery-grade graphite. [22] Vianode is building a plant in Ontario, Canada, that could supply about 2 million electric cars a year, and General Motors signed a supply deal with it in 2025. [22]

    Why it matters — GM has since scaled back its electric plans, and battery firms struggle to raise money after Sweden's Northvolt collapsed. [22] Western companies are racing to cut their reliance on China for battery materials. [22]

13. 14

    Colorado homes heated from the ground

    Dandelion Energy and Lennar, one of the biggest US homebuilders, finished nearly 100 homes south of Denver that each draw heat through a hole drilled 200 to 500 feet into the ground. [23] Down there it stays about 50F all year, warming the home in winter and cooling it in summer. [23] Drilling one home at a time often costs over $10,000, so the firms drill a whole estate before the foundations go in. [23] They plan 1,500 such homes in Colorado. [23]

    Why it matters — In cold snaps these systems use a quarter of the electricity of air heat pumps, Dandelion says. [23] A US Department of Energy report found 7 million such homes by 2035 could cut winter peak demand by more than 40 gigawatts. [23]

14. 15

    Households could fill Britain's grid gap

    Britain faces a gap of about 10% in flexible power, the kind that can be switched on at short notice, Cornwall Insight, an energy consultancy, calculated. [24] Filling it would take about 100 large batteries or 400 small gas plants. [24] Its research says homes that shift when they charge cars and run appliances could do much of that job. [24] Britain's grid operator says total generating capacity may need to rise by 206% to 245% between 2024 and 2050. [25]

    Why it matters — Demand peaks in the evening, when people get home, and wind and solar do not always match it. [24] Building the extra batteries or gas plants would be expensive and need other grid upgrades, Cornwall Insight says. [24]

15. 16

    The world's land is losing water

    Water stored on land, in soil, rivers, lakes and underground, fell by about 173 cubic kilometres a year from 2002 to 2025, a study in Scientific Reports found. [26] It used the GRACE satellites, which track water by measuring small changes in Earth's gravity. [26] A few drying hotspots outweighed gains elsewhere. [26] In 55% of the river basins losing water, the land also got worse at holding out against drought. [26]

    Why it matters — In some dry regions droughts now start faster and hit harder, the authors say. [26]

16. 17

    A few big methane leaks skew the count

    Methane, a gas that warms the planet, leaks from oil and gas sites, and a few very large leaks make up a big share of it, a study in Communications Earth & Environment found. [27] So a small number of measurements can get the average badly wrong. [27] A sample reads too low when it catches fewer big leakers than really exist. [27] The authors studied six US oil and gas fields and found each needs its own sampling plan. [27]

    Why it matters — Estimates built from a few site visits can miss much of what escapes. [27] Very large samples may be needed to get it right, the authors say. [27]

17. 18

    El Nino helps forecast spring sunshine

    Scientists at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory showed that spring sunshine in the US Southwest can be forecast a season ahead. [9] The main source of that skill is the state of El Nino and La Nina, the swings in Pacific sea temperatures. [9] Their forecast system also caught times when wind and solar ran low together. [9]

    Why it matters — Grid planners with more wind and solar want to know months ahead when power will run short or run over. [9]

18. 19

    Dry places get drier as the world warms

    A study in Communications Earth & Environment used 191 records of past climate over 21,000 years, along with computer models. [28] It found monsoon regions near the equator were wetter in warm periods, while many mid-latitude regions under westerly winds were wetter in cold ones. [28] Its models expect drying across many subtropical and mid-latitude regions as warming continues, and wetting in the far north and monsoon regions. [28]

    Why it matters — That would widen the gap between wet and dry places and put more pressure on water in dry lands. [28]

19. 20

    Thin ice threatens Arctic whaling

    By 2050, about half of spring days at Utqiagvik, Alaska, may have ice too thin for whaling crews to work from safely, a study in Scientific Reports projects. [29] People there hunt bowhead whales from the sea ice in spring and autumn, for food and by tradition. [29] The authors compared four sets of results from a US climate model. [29] Changes to autumn winds were less clear. [29]

    50 of 100

    spring days with possibly unsafe ice by 2050

    Why it matters — Whaling at Utqiagvik is hunting for food, so thinner ice threatens a food supply as well as a tradition. [29]

20. 21

    Hong Kong's roofs could make far more solar

    Rooftops on Hong Kong's 338,550 buildings could make 3.77 terawatt-hours of solar power a year, a study in a Nature journal estimated from satellite and ground data. [30] Solar makes only 0.37% of Hong Kong's power today. [30] With Hong Kong's payments for solar power sent to the grid, panels would pay for themselves in about 3.5 to 6.4 years. [30]

    Why it matters — The authors say the method can guide solar plans in other crowded, cloudy cities. [30]

21. 22

    Europe's foresters weigh timber against drought

    Forest managers across Europe agree that drought is the biggest climate risk to their woods, a survey in Communications Earth & Environment found. [31] Most rank mixing broadleaf trees with conifers as the best way to adapt. [31] But a quarter said they would keep or raise the share of conifers, because they expect timber prices to rise. [31]

    Why it matters — Expected timber prices are changing what gets planted, against what the same managers rank as best for the forest. [31]

22. 23

    Sussex volunteers find more ancient trees

    Volunteers with the Lost Woods project have recorded 5,570 old and notable trees across 314 square kilometres of Sussex, in southern England, more than they expected. [32] They include 348 ancient trees, in the last stage of their lives, and 2,743 veteran trees. [32] About 20 volunteers each cover a square kilometre, and the trees go into the UK's Ancient Tree Inventory. [32]

    Why it matters — Old trees carry fungi that matter for wildlife, and a tree has to be found before it can be protected. [32]

23. 24

    Could a Greenland iceberg hit Europe?

    In Tom Cruise's new film Digger, a giant iceberg breaks off Greenland and threatens Europe. [33] Scientists told Scientific American it could not happen as shown. [33] Ice shelves already float, so an iceberg breaking off does not raise the sea, and the waves it makes reach only a few kilometres. [33] The film's iceberg is about 400 square miles, four times Greenland's largest in recent history, from Petermann Glacier in 2010. [33]

    Why it matters — The real risk from polar ice is slow: melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will raise sea levels around the world. [33]

24. 25

    Solar panels between the rails

    Researchers found room for more than 8.5 megawatts of solar panels laid between the rails on five South Korean railway lines, pv magazine reports. [34] They studied lines in Busan, Seoul and Daegu and the main Seoul-Busan line, leaving out tunnels and shaded stretches. [34] The idea is to make solar power in crowded cities without using new land. [34]

    Why it matters — Railways already sit on public land next to the power lines that trains use. [34]