Climate, in brief

Champi, a typhoon in the western Pacific, passed within about 16 km (10 miles) of the southern tip of Guam this weekend. [1]

Guam is a US island territory, and typhoons have done billions of dollars of damage there before. [4]

Champi was as strong as a Category 4 hurricane, the second-highest step on the 1-to-5 scale, with winds above 130 mph (210 km/h). [1]

It was a tropical storm with 52 mph winds on Friday, and it reached Category 4 strength in under two days. [6][1]

A forecaster in Guam said fast growth was expected, but 'this outperformed what was expected'. [1]

Just after it passed the island it became a 'super typhoon', the name for the strongest typhoons, with winds of 150 mph (240 km/h). [1][2]

The strongest winds hit the south of the island, where there were no sensors, and gusts there likely went well over 100 mph. [1]

At the airport in the north of the island, gusts reached 80 mph. [1]

Power cuts had begun, and the weather service warned the whole island could lose power for days or weeks. [1]

Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for Guam on Saturday, letting FEMA, the US disaster agency, run federal relief. [1][2]

Airports, harbours and some health centres were closed, and FEMA said its supplies were unlikely to reach the islands for three to five days. [2][3]

Guam and the nearby Northern Mariana Islands are still recovering from two super typhoons this year, Sinlaku in April and Bavi in July. [2][3]

Why it matters. Watch for the first damage reports from southern Guam, where no sensors measured the winds, and for whether Champi reaches Category 5 as it moves west. [1][2]

Hurricane Trudy brought heavy rain and 100 mph (155 km/h) winds to Mexico's Pacific coast on Sunday, as a Category 2 storm. [2] A hurricane warning ran from Manzanillo in Colima state to Cabo Corrientes in Jalisco state. [2] On Friday it had grown fast to about 120 mph, and a private forecaster said it might even reach Category 4 or 5. [8] Up to 30 cm of rain was forecast for Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco, on a coast already hit by weeks of deadly storms. [2][8] On Saturday Mexico's water agency, CONAGUA, classed it as Category 2. [9]

Why it matters. Mexico's weather chief said the centre would stay 60 to 65 km offshore, and any move closer to land would make it worse. [8] The US hurricane centre warned of deadly floods and mudslides, most of all on steep ground. [2]

PG&E, a utility in northern California, switched off power to nearly 62,000 customers in 26 counties on Wednesday night, so its lines could not spark fires in hot, dry wind. [13] More than 118,000 customers in the state were without power on Friday. [13] Some of California's worst wildfires have been started by power equipment, which is why utilities now cut power before dangerous winds. [14] In Orange County, crews had the Norte Fire 25% contained by Saturday evening, and most evacuation orders were lifted. [10]

Why it matters. In Malibu, the Bryson Fire threatened more than 7,200 buildings but none had been reported damaged by Friday. [12] Another fire near Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base, twice closed the I-5 highway. [11]

The weather centre of ASEAN, the 11-country Southeast Asian bloc, raised its haze alert to Level 3, its highest, on Friday. [17] The smoke comes from months of forest and peat fires in Indonesia, made worse this year by drought from El Nino. [17] Singapore's prime minister, Lawrence Wong, said Singapore may act under its own law against companies whose fires abroad send haze over it. [16] By the end of the week Indonesia said it would accept help from other countries. [15]

Why it matters. Indonesia's health ministry counts nearly 280,000 people with breathing infections linked to the fires, more than 60,000 of them under five. [15] On Saturday Singapore was the world's second most polluted big city, behind Baghdad, on IQAir's live ranking. [17]

Of 2,475 homes lost in New South Wales in the 2019-20 'black summer' fires, 94% stood less than 100 metres from trees or other plants that burn, a new study found. [18] New South Wales authorities use a 100-metre zone on their maps to decide which homes must be built to stricter fire rules. [18] The study's leader, Owen Price of the University of Wollongong, said the rule was 'more or less spot on'. [18] But on days rated extreme or catastrophic, homes further away burned too. [18]

Why it matters. Fire danger ratings are expected to rise as the world warms, so the safe distance may have to grow. [18] The state's fire service is reviewing its main bushfire policy and warns of a 'challenging' fire season. [18]

A study in Science Advances, a research journal, counted days when people faced a heatwave and wildfire smoke at the same time. [22] From 2000 to 2019 an average of 916 million people a year had at least one such day, and the number grew by 287 million each decade. [22] The average person's yearly count rose from 1.0 day in the 2000s to 1.7 days in the 2010s. [22] About 70% of the growth in these days came from more intense events, and the rest from population growth. [22]

Why it matters. Countries low on the UN's human development scale had the most of these days and the fastest growth. [22] The authors say their detailed data can guide where to act on health and on coping with heat and smoke. [22]

Developers in Brazil gave up permits for 923 solar projects in 2026, with 40.6 gigawatts of capacity and about $26.3 billion of investment, says Absolar, the national solar industry group. [19] The main reason is curtailment: the grid operator switching off solar farms when it cannot use their power. [19] About 25% of Brazil's solar power was switched off this way this year. [19] New rules now say who is switched off first, but an investor told pv magazine they will not bring a wave of new projects. [19]

Why it matters. Power plants holding permits fell from 110 GW in January to 60 GW. [19] The investor sees some room for solar farms built close to the people who use the power, which avoid most of the switching off. [19]

US companies and trade groups discussed the EU's deforestation law in at least 351 meetings with EU lawmakers and officials from July 2024 to July 2026, the campaign group Mighty Earth found. [21] The law bans imports of goods such as soya, cocoa, coffee, palm oil and wood grown on land cleared of forest. [21] Its start was delayed twice and its tracing rules were softened, and it now begins in December. [21] Those lobbying included Cargill, Bunge and the US Soybean Export Council. [21]

Why it matters. After Donald Trump met Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, in July 2025, the EU said the US 'poses negligible risk' to global forests and promised US exporters special treatment. [21] The US firms deny a campaign and say they raised practical concerns. [21]

Large solar farms in Australia with 3.5 gigawatts of capacity got a final go-ahead from investors so far in 2026, about 30% above the previous yearly record, Clean Energy Regulator data shows. [20] All renewable projects together reached 5 GW, beating the old full-year record of 4.9 GW with three months left. [20] Home batteries approved under a government discount scheme reached 15.3 gigawatt-hours in September, up from 5 at the end of 2025. [20] Rooftop solar has added 2.8 GW this year. [20]

Why it matters. Energy minister Chris Bowen said renewables made more of the national grid's electricity than fossil fuels last month. [20] About half the new home batteries went into homes that already had solar panels. [20]

A judge ruled last month that a planned AI data centre in Imperial County, California, cannot be built until it passes a full environmental review, the Guardian reports. [26] The developer, Sebastian Rucci, planned a site the size of 16 football fields near the Mexican border, using 330 megawatts of power. [26] He says it would need about 750,000 gallons of water a day, and the local water supplier, which draws only on the drought-hit Colorado River, turned down his request. [26] Close to 3,500 people signed a petition against it. [26]

Why it matters. The city's lawyer said the review could take a year or more. [26] Rucci promises more than 1,600 building jobs in a county whose poverty rate, close to 20%, is California's highest. [26]

Tropical animals are turning up off California as an unusually strong El Nino pushes warm water north, Reuters reports. [23] A longfin bigeye fish was recorded there for the first time, and two olive ridley sea turtle nests in Orange County were the first sea turtle nests ever recorded on the US West Coast. [23] A venomous yellow-bellied sea snake came ashore, and whale sharks and hammerheads have been seen. [23] One Dana Point fishing firm says its anglers caught 5,000 yellowfin tuna this year, against 2 a year ago. [23]

Why it matters. Fishing businesses are gaining, but kelp beds, underwater forests of seaweed, have been harmed. [23] California has declared a state of emergency to prepare for more El Nino effects this winter. [23]

Severe clear-air turbulence, the kind radar cannot see, rose 55% from 1979 to 2020, a University of Reading analysis found, the Guardian reports. [27] It forms where wind speed or direction changes sharply, often at the edges of jet streams, the fast winds high above the Earth. [27] Warming can sharpen that change, and warmer air holds about 7% more water vapour per degree, which feeds thunderstorms. [27] Turbulence is the leading cause of injuries in airline accidents that kill nobody, says IATA, the airline industry body. [27]

Why it matters. Researchers expect clear-air turbulence to rise 27% with 1.5C of warming and 56% with 2.75C. [27] Airlines now share live turbulence readings from more than 3,700 aircraft to warn each other. [27]

The Netherlands' digital infrastructure inspectorate says a faulty update or a cyberattack on the cloud systems that run home batteries, heat pumps and car chargers could switch many of them at once. [24] A sudden swing of 3 gigawatts or more between supply and demand can upset the grid, it says, citing SolarPower Europe, an industry group. [24] Heat pumps and car chargers in the Netherlands grew fivefold from 2019 to 2024. [24] It says EU cyber laws only partly cover the companies behind these systems. [24]

Why it matters. It wants any company that can control enough devices to shake the grid brought under EU cyber rules, whatever its size or home country. [24] The EU's main cyber rules for such devices only apply from December 2027. [24]

France's government will make heat pump grants depend on smart controls from 2027, so the pumps can run when power is cheapest. [25] It says households could save 150 to 200 euros a year that way. [25] It also wants car chargers set by default to charge in off-peak hours. [25] By the end of 2026, solar farms with batteries of up to 25 MW may connect under the 17 MW limit, as long as they never send more than 17 MW into the grid. [25]

Why it matters. France's government estimates smart control could cut the cost of heating, hot water and car charging by up to 35%. [25] The CRE, France's energy regulator, also plans tariffs that are cheapest around midday, when solar output peaks. [25]

Oceans in the middle latitudes, between the tropics and the polar regions, are warming 75% faster in late summer than in late winter, a new study in a Nature journal says. [28] The pattern shows up both in real sea temperature records and in climate models. [28] In summer the top layer of water that mixes with the air is thinner, so it holds less heat and warms faster. [28] The authors call it a basic feature of a warming climate, not a fluke. [28]

Why it matters. The authors say it gives a simple way to explain, and to forecast, how these seas will change. [28] The models show it even when the push from greenhouse gases is the same all year round. [28]

On the Tibetan Plateau, plants of the pea family, called legumes, take nitrogen from the air and feed it to the soil, a study of 1,047 plant samples from 323 sites found. [29] This natural fertiliser peaks at heights of 3,600 to 4,000 metres. [29] It matches the places where plant growth has risen in recent decades. [29] In computer models without it, the region's permafrost grasslands switch from storing carbon to giving it off. [29]

Why it matters. Permafrost is ground that stays frozen all year, and warming may change which plants grow on it. [29] Whether legumes spread or shrink there helps decide whether this ground adds to warming. [29]

Solar power has saved the EU 40 billion euros of gas imports since the war on Iran began, says SolarPower Europe, an industry group, Euronews reports. [31] The war squeezed the Strait of Hormuz, which usually carries about a fifth of the world's oil, and sent oil and gas prices soaring. [31] Firms such as PLATIO now sell tough solar panels that replace paving stones on driveways and patios, in 13 countries. [31] In Germany, the solar firm Enpal saw 30% more inquiries in the war's first weeks. [31]

Why it matters. A 9 square metre PLATIO driveway in Hungary can in theory run a fridge, a freezer and lights. [31] Electricity and gas bills across Europe are still high, and experts say that is pushing households to make their own power. [31]

Qcells, a solar panel maker with factories in the US state of Georgia, will sell home panels with US-made aluminium frames by the end of 2026. [30] The frames come from Aluko Group's plant in Tennessee, which plans to invest more than $107 million and make frames for 4 GW of panels a year. [30] US-made parts help buyers win a 10% bonus on a federal solar tax credit. [30] The share of a project that must be US-made rises toward 55% for projects that start in 2027. [30]

Why it matters. Aluko says the plant will create 285 full-time jobs. [30] Qcells says doing all three framing steps in the US gives installers clear proof that a project qualifies. [30]

Mercedes-AMG, the sports car arm of Mercedes-Benz, unveiled the electric GT SUV, with up to 1,153 horsepower from three motors. [33] Its 128 kWh battery can charge at up to 710 kW, going from 10% to 80% in 12 minutes. [33] It reaches US dealers in summer 2027. [33] Most of the fastest US public chargers are rated for 400 kW, while China already has 2,250 kW chargers in service, Electrek says. [33]

Why it matters. In the US, buyers will mostly be paying for charging speed that almost no station can give yet. [33] Mercedes has also cut two other electric models from its 2027 range. [33]

Flex Marine Power, a Scottish company, has built the Swimmer Turbine, a 50 kW machine that sits out of sight on the seabed and turns as the tide flows. [32] It makes enough power for about 30 homes. [32] Local fishermen launched it themselves from their own slipway on Islay, a Scottish island, during tests last year. [32] Its founder, David Mummery, plans to return next year to make electricity for the island. [32]

Why it matters. Big tidal machines weigh hundreds of tonnes and need heavy ships, while this one comes in about 20 parts in a shipping container. [32] The company won 968,000 pounds from a UK government fund to build it. [32]

Researchers in Spain put low solar panels between the vine rows of three commercial vineyards in the south-east and tracked them for 14 months. [34] The panels sit close to the ground, so they avoid shading the grapes at key times and leave room for farm machines. [34] Grapes and power together on one hectare did the work of 1.16 to 1.53 hectares used for each alone, the team says. [34] The best system made an estimated 555,905 kWh per hectare a year. [34]

Why it matters. The team says packing in more panels could raise that to 1.95 hectares. [34] Their design uses 141 to 161 kg of steel per kilowatt, at the low end for such systems. [34]

Researchers tracked a 12 MW solar farm in Sidi Bel Abbes, in western Algeria, from 2018 to 2023. [35] Its output fell sharply in 2020, mainly because Covid-19 rules cut cleaning and upkeep. [35] In a normal year the plant made 19.83 to 21.41 gigawatt-hours, with 2019 the best. [35] Dust is a problem there, so the panels are cleaned by brushes on a frame pulled by a tractor. [35]

Why it matters. The study shows that a solar farm still loses power when nobody cleans it. [35] The researchers say regular upkeep is crucial to avoid those losses. [35]

Two damselfly species, the Beautiful Demoiselle and the Willow Emerald, were recorded at Astonbury Wood near Stevenage, England, for the first time, a wildlife trust says. [36] It follows a three-year project to restore seven nature reserves in Hertfordshire. [36] Workers coppiced trees, cutting them at the base so new shoots grow, to let light reach the woodland floor. [36] More flowers drew more butterflies, including more Silver-washed Fritillaries. [36]

Why it matters. The 162,698-pound project was paid for by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. [36] The trust now wants to restore the wood's ponds before they dry out, as summers grow hotter and drier. [36]