La Niña Conditions Are Present

🍁 Climate Change Impacts on Fall Foliage

Every fall when temperatures begin to drop and the days get shorter, trees receive less sunlight. Less sunlight causes the energy-absorbing chlorophyll, which gives them their green hues, to break down and reveal other color pigments such as red, orange, and yellow. However, climate change is beginning to impact the vibrant fall colors we’ve become to know and love. Trees need cold temperatures to produce the vibrant colors. If the temperatures do not drop low enough, the leaves may not produce bright colors and may be more brown. In some areas in the Northeast, fall foliage has been delayed by almost a day each decade, mostly due to warmer summer temperatures. Rain and drought also impact the leaves. Too much rain can lead to fungus, while too little rain can cause the leaves to dry out and fall off.

Simmone Shah, Time

La Niña Conditions Are Present

On October 9th, the Climate Prediction Center announced that La Niña conditions officially emerged in September 2025. Below average sea surface temperatures were confirmed across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. La Niña is favored to persist through December 2025-February 2026, with a transition back to ENSO-neutral conditions likely in January-March 2026. At this time, La Niña is expected to remain weak. Typically, La Niña conditions would lead to fewer hurricanes in the Pacific due to stronger vertical wind shear, with more hurricanes in the Atlantic due to weaker vertical wind shear and trade winds, as well as less atmospheric stability. As for typical La Niña winter patterns in the United States, the northern states typically see cold and snow, with dry and warm conditions in most of the southern states.

Climate Prediction Center

☀️ Renewable Energy Overtakes Coal

Renewable energy sources generated more electricity than coal globally for the first time ever in the first half of 2025. Between January and June 2025, renewable energy such as solar and wind supplied 5,072 terawatt hours of electricity globally, surpassing coal’s 4,896 terawatt hours. The shift from coal to renewables was largely driven by China and India. China is the world’s largest electricity consumer, but it was able to reduce fossil-fuel generation by 2% while increasing its solar and wind generation by 43% and 16% respectively. Similarly, India reduced its coal and gas use by 3.1% and increased wind and solar generation by 29% and 31% respectively. However, fossil-fuel generation rose in the United States and European Union during the same period. In the U.S., goal generation rose by 17% and gas generation fell by 3.9%, while Europe gas-fired power rose by 14% and coal by 1.1%. Coal power generation emits nearly double the amount of CO2 as gas generation.

Susanna Twindale, Reuters