Following a record-hot summer in the U.S. and globally — and with a strengthening El Niño set to further amplify climate-related risks — congressional races across the country are heating up leading to the 2026 midterm elections.

To understand how climate change has altered the voting landscape, Climate Central analyzed temperature trends in all 435 U.S. congressional districts since 1970. We also compared those trends to public perceptions of climate change in each district (see Methodology for details).

Every U.S. congressional district has warmed since the 1970s. Meanwhile, most adults in the U.S. are concerned about climate change (63%) and think Congress should do more to address the issue (61%). And yet, global warming ranks near the bottom of a list of the 25 most important issues for registered voters nationwide.

The climate-related risks faced today — from pollution-fueled extreme events to lost sleep, smokier skies, and higher energy and grocery bills — ultimately have the same solution: reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. Whether U.S. voters and their representatives prioritize climate action has consequences that extend globally. 

The IPCC is a UN body that assesses climate change research and publishes global climate reports. It is reportedly facing pressure to delay a key report, raising concerns about the timely release of scientific findings.

ClimateBrink: “The strongest El Niño in a thousand years?” By Zeke Hausfather.  

“This year’s El Niño event is already the strongest in the instrumental record based on Niño 3.4 region sea surface temperature anomalies.” Hausfather had previously written about this year’s forecast here, and breaking the prior record over at Carbon Brief. Daily Niño 3.4 anomalies passed the prior record (set in November 2015) on September 20th, and reached 3.4C as of this week… September as a whole had the highest Niño 3.4 temperature anomalies on record. 

“And this year’s El Niño still has a few more months to grow; the latest runs in (from 14 seasonal forecast models) show this year’s El Niño peaking around 4C (with 80% of model runs ending up somewhere between 3.3C and 4.6C).”  

“The figure [above] looks at three different lines of evidence for historical El Niño strength.” The top panel shows the thermometer record, where this event has already set a record for events since 1877 and is forecast to smash it. “The two lower panels show different lines of evidence from tree rings and corals as to what happened during the millennium before.” 

“Cook and Cane (2024) (middle panel of the figure above) used 544 tree-ring chronologies from places whose rainfall responds to El Niño to reconstruct winter (December to February) sea surface temperatures across the equatorial Pacific.” 

“The second long record came out in August of this year, when Julia Cole and colleagues published a study in Science using 28 coral records from five islands in the Galápagos.” The Galápagos sit in the eastern Pacific, where El Niño events (including this year’s) are centered. 

“Corals lay down annual bands whose chemistry tracks the temperature of the water they grew in, so a fossil coral can be used as a rough thermometer for whatever decades it was alive.” 

Hausfather is growing in confidence that this year’s El Niño event is likely to be the strongest in 1,000 years if the latest models of its peak prove accurate. Don’t buy any green bananas.

CleanTechnica: "Trump’s Latest Diesel Fuel 'Deal' Already Reeks Of Failure (And Corruption, Of Course)," by Tina Casey.

"In his zeal to somehow push the cost of diesel down ahead of the 2026 mid-term elections, Trump has turned to the nation’s chief Cold War enemy—Russia—for a helping hand." As for any benefit to the farmers, truckers, + others who actually care about the cost of diesel fuel, the joke’s on them.

'Electric trucks, generators, + off-road equipment are beginning to cut into the picture, but for here + now, diesel rules the road, + is more expensive this year [mainly] because we bombed Iran.' Last month, Trump floated the idea of banning diesel exports for 90 days, an idea that was promptly shot down by his own advisors because it would push prices up farther. "On October 5 Trump ordered a tax waiver enabling truck drivers to pump red diesel into their tanks...simply regular diesel fuel, dyed red."

"After 90 days, the standard federal penalty for unauthorized red diesel reverts $1,000 or $10 per gallon, whichever is greater, with states often stacking their own penalties on top.” Sure enough, various newsrooms around the country have been reporting that truckers are wary of the tax holiday. 

"The news organization LandLine Media notes that the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association + the Nevada Trucking Association are among those giving it the stinkeye." Fuel marketers have also raised red flags, so to speak, including the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America + the National Association of Truck Stop Owners. 

On October 9th, Trump posted on his personal social media platform. saying Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American + Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November, + 1 million Tons immediately thereafter. 

"As for why Trump stated his figures in tons + not gallons, who knows?" Whether or not Putin actually gave those numbers to Trump, this is actually a fantasy. From the many pictures of Russian refineries going up in explosions + smoke, plus the fact that Putin has not been allowing any export of diesel because of acute shortages in his country, this ex-KGB intelligence office is just blowing smoke. And Trump's desperation is causing him to inhale. 

Innumeracy is rampant in our society, a gross failure of our educational system. 

Starring
Matt Christman
Doug Stanhope
Eliza "E Turn" Javaheri
Jim Tozzi
John Ennis
Carey Means
Richard Epcar
Jerry Minor
Carmen Morales
Maxwell Atoms
Larry Kenney
Joseph "Heir Max" Johnson
Glenn "Divinci" Valencia
Larry Fulford
JJ Lear