August Was World's Hottest On Record As El Nino Grows; U.S. Had Hottest Summer

The world had its  hottest August on record. Only
tiny areas on the map are blue, which is a little on the 
cool side of normal. All the orange is warmer than
normal. Dark orange is a record hot month. 

New data released this week show that the world endured its August on record, beating out a tie between 2023 and 2024.  

The hot August was a big contributor to what turned out to be the world's hottest summer on record. Global oceans, taken as a whole, were also at record warmth. 

The United States also had its hottest August, and hottest summer on record. 

HOT WORLD

This all comes from NOAA's National Centers for Environment Information. Every month, NCEI is among a handful of meteorological agencies that take detailed temperatures of the world. Copernicus, the European climatological agency, also deemed August, 2026 the hottest on record. 

August, 2026 broke the record for hottest by 0.14 degrees F., according to NOAA's assessment. That doesn't sound like much, but it's a pretty wide margin if you add up all the thousands of weather stations that measure temperatures daily.

If you want a long, depressing trend, I've got one for you. This is the 48th consecutive year the world has seen an August warmer than the 20th century average, The top ten hottest Augusts have all happened since 2016.

The hot August comes from an amalgamation of data from throughout the world. Some were sort of hot, some were very hot, some were record hot, and a very, very few were a little on the chilly side. Taken together, we have confirmation of our record hot global August

Regions that experienced a record hot August included large swaths of Greenland, northern and central Africa, southern and western Europe, northwest Asia and much of the western United States. Reflecting the El Nino conditions, a huge area of the eastern and central tropical Pacific also had record warmth. 

Even in the warmest months, you can find pockets of relatively cool weather. Parts of the Arctic, eastern Russia and Antarctica had an August that was a tad cooler than the 20th century average. But not by much. 

The world had its warmest June-August period on record as well. That's meteorological summer in the northern hemisphere and meteorological winter in the southern hemisphere. The records for all of the above go back 177 years

 UNITED STATES

All of the continental United States had a warm month
North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Indiana were only
slightly warmer than normal. California, Nevada,
Colorado and New Mexico had the hottest August.

August was also the hottest on record in the United States, as was the summer as a whole. The average temperature across all of the Lower 48, if you aggregate all the established weather stations, was 75.6 degrees. Daytime maximums set an all time record to averaging 88.6 degrees across the continental U.S.   

The records go back 132 years

California, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado had their hottest August on record. Seventeen other states had one of their top 10 warmest Augusts.

Nobody in the United States had a cooler than average August North Dakota came closest, having its 58th warmest August on record. 

Here in Vermont, we had our 23rd hottest August, so I guess we escaped the worst of a torrid month. 

It was both stuffy warm nights and torrid afternoons that gave us the hot August. While there were plenty of daily record highs set across the U.S. in August, there wasn't the all-time highs you often see in super warm months. 

August also lacked any real cool spells anywhere in the Lower 48.

Another factor in creating such a hot month were those nights. This happened everywhere in the continental United States. But it was especially noticeable in the lower Great Lakes. That region was along a sort of borderline between especially hot weather to the south, with somewhat more moderate air to the north. 

The cloudy, humid weather in Indiana that cooled afternoons and made nights stuffy gave the state its 44th coolest average maximum temperatures on record. But it also gave Indiana the 28th warmest average minimum temperatures. Add it all up and it was Indiana's 49th hottest August out of the past 132 years.

Indiana was in the epicenter of bad weather in the United States. Indiana and neighborhood Ohio had their wettest August on record. A band extending west to east from Utah to New Jersey, with dry conditions north and south of that band.

Summer and Looking Ahead

Summer in the United States was also the hottest on record. June was warmer than normal. July was the hottest on record in the Lower 48. And, as noted above, August was hottest on record.  The previous record hot summers were a tie between 2021 and 1936

That Dust Bowl summer of 1936 is still regarded by many as the benchmark for hot summers, despite what happened in 2021 and now 2026.

The summer of 1936 certainly had its extreme hot spells, hotter than anything we saw in 2026.  

The summer of 1936 still holds the record for the hottest temperatures on record in eight states. However, it wasn't hot everywhere. The 1936 heat was focused on the Plains States. The Pacific Northwest and New England actually had a cool summer in 1936,.

During August, 2026, the heat wasn't as extreme, but it was far more widespread. There were 1.541 record highs set or tied at weather stations across the Lower 48 compared to kist 87 record low temperatures. That's about as big an imbalance as I've ever seen. 

The summer heat has become a trend this decade in the United States, as climate change worsens. Four of the five hottest summers in the United States have occurred in the past five years, according to NOAA data. 

AUTUMN

 When El Nino takes hold, autumn in the United States are often unusually warm. Especially with climate change holding court. 

The first 10 days of September have featured torrid, often record-breaking hot weather across the southern third of the United States. The rest of the United States have so far mostly lacked the usual cool spells that often spill across the border from Canada we usually see this time of year. 

NOAA predicted a warm September for most of the nation, except in the Pacific Northwest and possibly New England. Overall, autumn is predicted to be warm across most of the Lower 48, especially in the northern Rockies. 

Changeable Vermont Weather Coming Up But Questions On HOW It Will Change

Henry the Weather Dog sploots down
in the shade, resting for a bit while
playing at the dog park yesterday. Henry
expects more sunshine but cooler
weather on his trip to the park today.

We're starting out or Friday with mostly clear skies, except for some lingering clouds near the Canadian border.  

Those clouds should break up a little bit as we go through the day. The blue skies will be dotted by a few pretty clouds much of their day. 

September usually brings big bubbles of high pressure drifting by. Those feature spells of bright, sunny, cool weather, interspersed with cloudy periods. Those are the cold fronts that separate the big bubbles of high pressure.

The problem is teasing out the timing of everything, and that's going to be the problem this week. The cool high pressure systems from Canada will compete with attempts by humid, warmer air making attempts to rain on us. 

Let's parse it out.

TODAY

The easy part of the forecast.  We'll have a gorgeous day. Mostly sunny skies and highs within a few degrees either side of 70. Cool breezes in northern Vermont will perhaps make you want to reach for the fleece jacket or hoodie, if you spend time in the shade.

SATURDAY

Very frequently now, we'll have new "coldest mornings of the year so far."  We have a shot at that around dawn tomorrow. We'll start with temperatures in the 40s, with plenty of low and mid 40s away from Lake Champlain.  A few of the coldest spots in the Northeast Kingdom will probably get into the upper 30s. 

Places near Lake Champlain will probably stay near 50. Dense fog will lace the river valleys. 

During the day, south winds will pick up, boosting temperatures well into the 70s. The winds could get a little gusty on and near Lake Champlain, so it might be a little tricky for boats on the lake. 

In southern Vermont, clouds will begin to increase as a weak but wet storm moves up the Eastern Seaboard. 

SUNDAY

It looks like the weak storm with its relatively heavy rain will pass south of Vermont, passing through southern New England. Clouds will cover Vermont. Meanwhile, a cold front will be coming at us from the west. 

Rain will overspread southern Vermont Saturday night and Sunday morning. There could be a half inch or more of rain in Bennington and Windham counties. 

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has a marginal risk of severe storms in much of Vermont, suggesting there could be isolated instances of damaging winds. However, with all the clouds around, it's still doubtful we'll see any real thunderstorms. 

The cold front is most likely to produce rain in northern Vermont. In the end, northern and southern Vermont should get at least a decent wetting, and central Vermont might slip through between the two areas of rain and get little. 

This is iffy, so expect changes in the forecast. Bottom line: Not a really nice day, but how that will play out still has question marks. 

MONDAY

Another big bubble of high pressure looks like it will come in with mostly clear, cool weather. Monday will hopefully be a carbon copy of Saturday. We shall see.

TUESDAY AND BEYOND

We'll be near the battleground between those cool, big high pressure systems from Canada, and the lingering hot, humid weather in the southern half of the U.S.  That torrid summer weather is really hanging tough, odd for September, but we should see little if any of it. 

Instead, we'll be prone to periods of rain as weather disturbances ride along the border between the cool autumn air to the north and the hot, humid air to the south. 

I'm not sure, but chances are much of the rain could pass to our south. But, if we get lucky, we could also see at least one soaking rain, which would be nice. No promises there, though 

It's possible the humid air could sneak in briefly, but if it does, it won't last long.  Updates to next week's forecasts will seem constant, and we might not know exactly what kind of weather we'll have until the day before the weather actually hits. 

Drought Spreading In Northern Vermont, Last Night's Rain Should Only Help A Little

This morning's weekly U.S. Drought Monitor shows
drought expanding across northern and eastern Vermont

The latest weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, released this morning, shows drought slowly spreading in northern Vermont. 

Last week, drought covered only 13 percent of the state, up in the Northeast Kingdom. 

That moderate drought has now spread southward through most of Orange County, as far south as around Bradford. It covers almost a quarter of Vermont. It extends to the eastern slopes of the Green Mountains.

The area deemed "abnormally dry," a precursor to drought, also expanded, so that the area that's abnormally dry or in drought covers the northeastern half of Vermont. 

The dry area extends to the western slopes of the Green Mountains in the northern half of the state.

 A tiny corner of far southeastern Vermont is also abnormally dry, as it has since July. Before July a slightly larger portion of far southern parts of the state had that abnormally dry status. 

Last night's rain deposited about a half inch to three quarters of an inch of rain on the dry and drought areas of Vermont. A small handful of places saw as little as a quarter of an inch. 

That rain doesn't count toward the data in this week's Drought Report. Any effects would appear in next week's data. However the rain probably wasn't enough to change the drought all that much. Also, very little rain fell in far southeast Vermont, so the dry conditions there could certainly deepen

Looking ahead, we are going to get some rain, but probably nothing too torrential. At least over the next week. Probably beyond.

It's actually a little hard to know how much rain we will actually see. As noted in my post earlier this morning, the weather pattern over us involves a speedy west to east upper air flow.

Usually, that means that any rain we see comes in short, light amounts. But this weather pattern features very hot, humid air trapped in the southern half of the nation. If a front stalls nearby, we could see some beneficial, heavier rain. So far, that doesn't appear to be in the cards, but you can only help. 

Vermont seems to be on the western edge of a drought that has stubbornly hung on all year, and has recently strengthened. 

For instance, last week, 20 percent of New Hampshire was in drought. This week, it's a little more than half.  Meanwhile, at least 90 percent of Maine is dealing with drought.

Decent Vermont Overnight Rains Will Help With Dry Conditions, But Not Much New Rain In Forecast

A rose mallow bloom in St. Albans, Vermont seemed
happy with the overnight rain as it bloomed under
clearing skis this morning. 

As forecast, we had a nice rainy night across most of Vermont. 

It was too early as of this writing to have a complete listing of rainfall amounts, but it looks like everyone got a decent soaking except in the southeast corner of Vermont, all of which had been accurately forecast by the National Weather Service. 

Burlington received 0.74 inches, and my unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans collected just about the same amount.  Montpelier 0.45; St. Johnsbury, 0.57. 

Rutland is the big winner so far at 1.13 inches. Springfield had 0.56 inches. Bennington had just 0.38 inches.  I don't have reports from far southeast Vermont, but it doesn't look like it rained much there. 

Keene, New Hampshire, just 18 miles east of Brattleboro, had only 0.06 inches. Central New England largely missed out on this. 

Let's go on to the forecasts

TODAY

We woke up this morning with the rain gone, the weather fronts having rushed off to the east. Humidity peaked overnight, but it was starting to decrease as dawn broke. It was still a little muggy during the morning rush hour, but the end to that is near. 

Brisk west winds, sort of shifting from southwest to northwest as the day goes by, will flush the humidity out. Under partly sunny skies, we should get into the 70s to near 80 southeast.

As one last weak weather front comes through, the clouds might tend to increase a bit toward late afternoon and evening, especially north, and one or two very light showers might pop up. But most of us will stay dry. 

FRIDAY

Before dawn,  a push of drier air will clear skies. That might yield to some patchy fog in the valleys as the sun rises. Typical for September.

We'll have a noticeably cooler day. with highs only reaching to within a few degrees either side of 70. Nothing unusual. for this time of year. We've seen much colder weather this time of year, now that we're well into September. (The record for the coldest high temperature in Burlington on Friday is 54 degrees in 1917.)

We'll see lots of sunshine and lighter winds than we'll see today, so it'll be a very nice day. Maybe go apple picking or something?

Clear, calm conditions will drop temperatures into the 40s in most places by dawn Saturday. 

SATURDAY

Another gorgeous day. Patchy valley fog will once again accompany the early chill, but afternoon temperatures will rise well into the 70s. 

NEXT WEEK

We'll see a changeable period. A fast west to east flow will keep ridiculous, persistent and in some cases record late season heat and humidity mostly to the southern half the United States. Cold fronts will race by, not lingering long enough to give us much rain. 

Occasionally, the heat and humidity will try to sneak into the North Country, but that will get beaten back by the cold fronts. Timing when we might get any showers is tricky in this pattern.  It doesn't look like all that much rain will come out of all this. 

A Record El Nino Has Ramped Up, So Expect A Wild Weather Ride Over The Next Year Or So

An image from August shows far warmer than normal
ocean waters in the eastern Pacific off the west coast
of South America as El Nino takes hold. Since 
August, that water has gotten even hotter. 

Climate change has made the world's weather more extreme: Worse storms, worse floods, worse droughts, weirder weather days.  

Now El Nino is starting to make everything worse. 

El Nino is now in full force,. Expect things to become especially wild for at least several months, well into next year.  Since this is uncharted territory with a record El Nino atop climate change, who knows how this will sugar off?

A statement released last week by the World Meteorological Organization  statement seems ominous: 

"'El Nino is being supersized before our eyes. The science leaves no room for doubt: The planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up. Sea surface temperatures are rising, temperatures keep climbing, and the world is in the danger zone of extreme weather. The race now is between rising risks and our commitment to take climate action and protect people. We must win that race,' said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres."

The WMO added: 

"El Nino is firmly established and will intensify into a very strong event in the coning months, with big impacts on rainfall and temperature patterns and associated risks of floods, drought and extreme heat, according to a new update."

But where? And how bad?

We don't know, exactly

It won't be armageddon, as some on social media breathlessly tell us.  Many of us will be fine, just marveling at the weird, sometimes scary weather. I don't want to minimize the fact that it will be tragic for some of us. 

And it will be expensive. Likely for all of us. Exactly what we end up with is still an open question, though we can forecast some of the broad brush effects. 

WHAT EL NINO IS DOING

At first, it might seem like El Nino is doing some of us a favor. As mentioned in a previous post, the Atlantic hurricane season so far is as lame as can be. El Nino is creating strong upper level winds over the tropical Atlantic, killing off any nascent tropical storms that want to form. 

A tropical storm or hurricane could still form between now and November, but we won't have many such storms. 

The eastern Pacific ocean is another story. The eastern Pacific Ocean is alive with hurricanes. One of them, Lowell, sideswiped Hawaii earlier this week, causing extensive damage. It's the second time a hurricane had trashed parts of Hawaii.  

El Nino pushes the warmest Pacific waters moved away from Asia and toward South America. The water becomes relatively cooler near Asia and Australia. Cooler water means less evaporation. And fewer showers and thunderstorms. Droughts result in southeast Asia and Australia. Destructive wildfires tend to break out in Indonesia and Australia. 

It also tends to get dry in southern Africa, sub-Sahara Africa and Brazil during El Ninos. Wet areas are a little less certain, although the southern United States tend to get pretty wet and stormy, even including tornado outbreaks  during the winter months of an El Nino.

NOAA is also telling us it will be a warmer than average winter along the northern tier of the United States, from the Pacific Northwest to New England, which is typical of an El Nino.

 There's a bunch of wildcards, though. Other factors could bend the winter jet stream, at times defying the will of El Nino

"A strong El Nino can tilt the odds toward certain temperature and precipitation patterns across different parts of the U.S., but it doesn't determine exactly how every storm, or even the entire winter, will play out," said Crystal Egger, a meteorologist and president of Monarch Weather Consulting.

That uncertainty applies to most other places in the world. 

COSTS/EFFECTS OF EL NINO

Whatever happens, the extreme weather with an El Nino can be expensive. 

The Super El Nino could lead to immediate global financial losses of nearly $1 trillion dollars in 2027. and up to $7.2 trillion over the ensuing six years, according to a September 8 report from Oxford Economics    As reported in supplychaiinbrai.com:

"Following extreme weather disruptions, both public and private sector funds are diverted toward reparations," Oxford Economics explain."While necessary, this expenditure restores lost production capacity rather than expanding it, which can crowed out investment in infrastructure upgrades, technology, education, R&D and so on."

The cost comes from everywhere, not just the physical damage. As supplychainbrain.com notes, these weather and climate disasters make it harder and more expensive to borrow money. Homeowners and businesses fall behind on loans. Damaged or devalued property becomes poorer collateral. 

Insurance covers some losses, but those disaster make premiums more expensive and make coverage harder to find. 

It's always difficult to calculate the cost of an event that hasn't really happened yet. So take the above figures with a grain of salt. Just know that every El Nina is expensive. This one will probably be more expensive than all the others. 

Given all the unknowns, it's hard to prepare for El Nino, but people - and governments are trying anyway.

In Great Britain, residents have been urged to have enough food and water stored at home to survive a few days without power or water services

British Environmental Secretary Angela Eagle said El Nino could create ever more extreme storms than the already big storms the UK has seen in recent years. 

"If you've got a store of a bit of food that can keep you going for awhile before the emergency services can get to you,  you're going to be a lot better off than if you haven't. So some of it is that kind of preparation for just being a little more resilient," Eagle said.

Beyond that, we're not sure what will happen. There's a lot of hysterics about this El Nino. Some of it is justified.  To be blunt, people will die, crops will fail, people will go hungry. 

Until now, the strongest El Nino known to have occurred hit in 1877. Washington Post picks up the story: 

"The (1877 El Nino) fueled conditions that led to a global famine which killed more than 50 million people across India, China, Brazil and elsewhere. That's 3 to 4 percent of the estimated global population at the time, equal to at least 250 million people if it happened today."

Could it happen again?

The world is much warmer than it was in 1877, thanks to climate change. So the effects of the 2026-27 El Nino would be more extreme than the world saw 150 years. 

On the other hand, unlike in 1877, we know El Nino is coming. We have ways to prepare for droughts and extreme storms. Drought-prone areas can switch to dry tolerant crops. Resourced can be re-directed in advance to combat wildfires.  Residents of the American South can gird for flooding and severe storms this winter.

We won't be able to tie every big storm, flood or dry spell that we'll see in the coming months directly to El Nino. The only thing we can expect is a wild weather ride ov er the winter. 

Buckle your seat belts! 

Vermont Weather To Bounce Around, Cool To Muggy To Warm To Cool; Some Needed Rain Thrown In

After a little welcome morning rain in St. Albans, skies
at least partly cleared in the afternoon. We ended up
with a pleasant afternoon with a  pretty skies. 

As expected, the rain in northern Vermont faded quickly as it headed south, amounting to nothing south of Route 2.  

Right near the Canadian border, the rain was pretty decent - at or above a quarter inch. Derby Line had a half inch, Swanton just a smidge under a third of an inch. 

Here in St. Albans had 0.21 inches, and that reduced to 0.02 for a total in Burlington. Nothing in places like Montpelier and Rutland. 

After the morning clouds and cool air, it turned into a nice afternoon, especially in northern Vermont. 

The changes keep coming. 

This morning, temperatures in North Country, ranging from frost in northern Maine to muggy low 70s in western New York. In Vermont, 5 a.m. temperatures ranged from 43 in Lyndonville and 63 in Rutland. 

Since weather usually comes from the west, you know what's going to happen. The muggy air will win out. At least briefly. 

Here's what happens next:

TODAY

The clouds will increase, and south winds will increase and the humidity will increase. By this evening, the air will definitely have a muggy feel.

Rain will move in from the west. There could be some very light showers at any time today, but the rain will begin in earnest mid to late afternoon, spreading west to east. Before the rain gets here, we should get into the low and mid 70s, with sone upper 60s northeast.

It'll be a fairly steady light to at times to moderate rain at times, then tonight it will turn into a showery type thing, typical of what you'd expect in humid air. There could be some brief downpours and a rumble or two of thunder overnight. 

It'll be a somewhat sticky, uncomfortable night for sleeping, too. One of the last of this year. Maybe even the last, if we're lucky. 

If we get lucky, current forecasts will pan out and we'll get a needed wetting. Total rainfall looks to be around a half inch to an inch in central and northern Vermont. Maybe a little less than that in the immediate Champlain Valley, maybe a little more than that in the Green Mountains. The lower Connecticut River Valley, from around Springfield south, might only get 0.1 to 0.25 inches. 

As always with this type of event, there will be some local surprises with some spots getting more than forecast, and some places getting a little less. Luck of the draw, you understand. 

THURSDAY

Another changeable day. Abrupt, breezy changes are another sign of fall, even though tomorrow will not at all feel like autumn. 

Once we get into the fall, storm systems get stronger. Which means winds get stronger, temperature and humidity trends get stronger. And they happen over shorter periods of time. 

We start the day with the overnight rain gone already. It'll be a humid morning, and if you're exercising out in the early morning sun, you really will sweat it through. 

But winds will pick up from the west and eventually northwest. You'll feel the humidity gradually fade away during the day. By mid to late afternoon, it should actually start to feel refreshing amid those gusty breezes.

It will be warm, though. We'll get into the 70s, with a couple 80s poking out in the lower Connecticut Valley and maybe the Champlain Valley. All under at least partly sunny skies. 

FRIDAY

Back to traditional September, for a little while anyway. A cool, possibly foggy early morning will yield a generally sunny, cool afternoon. Temperatures should peak within a few degrees either side of 70 degrees. 

SATURDAY

Another nice one. It'll start chilly, with lows in the 40s. The usual September dense fog will shroud the river valleys. Sunshine will boost temperatures well into the 70s. 

SUNDAY-WEDNESDAY

Changeable, but it's a little hard to give a firm forecast this far in advance. It looks like Sunday could start to turn more humid. Perhaps after a break on Monday, the humidity could briefly return Tuesday. There's chances of showers amidst all this, but we don't know how much rain that might involve. 

Climate Central Study: Autumns In U.S. Getting Warmer, Which Shouldn't Be A Surprise

A warm autumn day in my backyard. Photo was taken
on October 24, 2024. In past decades, the trees would
have been almost completely leafless by 
that time of year. 

Autumn is the new summer.  

That's an exaggeration, of course, but those brisk autumn breezes are fading under the weight of climate change. Summer weather is lingering longer across the United States. 

Climate Central has the receipts.

According to their latest report, autumn warmed in 98 percent of 245 major U.S cities analyzed, using data  from 1970 to 2025. The average increase in fall temperatures since 1970 is 2.9 degrees. 

The southwestern United States, northern Rockies an the Plains have warmed up the most. 

The fastest warming cities are Reno, Nevada (7.9 degree); El Paso, Texas (6.9 degrees)' Las Vegas (6.3 degrees); Tyler, Texas (6 degrees) and Tucson, (5.9 degrees)

Demonstrating the waning influence of natural variability, Climate Central found only three cities actually cooled a little bit in the autumn between 1970 and 2025.  But those cities barely got chillier, as they were only 0.2 degrees F cooler than they used to be.   

Besides climate change, a particular location's temperatures can be affected by El Nino and La Nina, an urban heat island effect, weather station relocations and other factors. 

For our Vermont readers, Burlington is in Climate Central's data set. The city warmed up by 5.2 degrees during the fall, nearly twice the national rate of warming. 

Climate Central's data looked at meteorological fall, which is the time period between September 1 and November 30. The figures come from open source data from NOAA. 

A warm fall up here in Vermont might seem nice. And it can be. Temperatures in the 70s in late October and early November are quite nice, especially since that time of year has a blustery reputation. But warm autumn weather can cause its share of problems.

Especially early in the season, lingering heat can be dangerous. For instance, in Kansas City this time of year, normal high temperatures are still summer like - in the low 80s. But each day during the first week of this month was in the 90s, with insufferable overnight lows in the 70s  

Lately, in recent years, horrible heat and humidity have lingered well into the autumn across large swaths of the nation. Including the north. 

Here in Vermont, it was 86 degrees in Burlington on October 5 last year. The year before that, temperatures were in the upper 70s to near 80 on Halloween. In the past, it's been known to snow here when trick or treaters roam the streets of the Green Mountain State. Not any more, apparently. 

Climate Central lists other effects of hot autumn. Among them: 

Kids go back to school in the fall. Many schools, especially in the northern half of the U.S.,  have no or inadequate air conditioning, making it a challenge for both learning and student health. And the teachers are suffering, too. 

Hot, dry autumns extend the wildfire season, especially in the western United States. The worst case scenario was probably the Paradise, California fire on November 8, 2018. The fire killed 85 people, making it the deadliest wildfire that nation has seen in the past 100 years. The wildfire destroyed 18,000 structures, including 9,000 homes.  

By early November, the first early rains should have hit that part of California. But it was late, setting the stage for the calamity. 

Back here in Vermont, fall foliage season is coming very soon.  Eventually, climate change could ruin the magic, and the tourism dollars that come with it. So far, I see no evidence the brilliance of the season is waning, but it has been generally getting later. In the warmer Champlain Valley, you now have to wait until the second half of October to see peak foliage. 

The growing season is lasting longer, which is great for farmers and gardeners. But people with allergies suffer as ragweed and other such plants don't die so early. Also, ticks, mosquitoes, and other bugs last longer into the fall.