theSIGNAL SCIENCE
11 September 2026
"Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get."
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Science

The Atlantic's Missing Hurricanes Break a Record

An extraordinary El Niño is silencing the Atlantic hurricane season at precisely the moment it should be roaring loudest.

Something is missing over the Atlantic Ocean this September, and its absence is making history. By this week — statistically the most dangerous point of the hurricane season — not a single hurricane has formed in the Atlantic basin. In an average year, meteorologists would expect to have already tracked three hurricanes and eight named storms. This year, the ocean has produced only five modest tropical storms: Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, and Edouard.

That is it. The sky, for now, is quiet. That quiet is about to set a record. In the satellite era, which began in the 1960s and gave scientists their first reliable global view of storm systems, the latest date on which an Atlantic hurricane season had produced zero hurricanes was 11 September — a record shared by 2002 and 2013.

That date has now been passed. Unless a hurricane forms almost immediately, this season will hold the unwanted crown for the longest hurricane-free stretch in modern recorded history. The reason is a powerful El Niño, the climate pattern driven by unusually warm water in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. When El Niño strengthens, it increases wind shear over the Atlantic — essentially a change in wind speed and direction at different altitudes that tears developing storm systems apart before they can organise into hurricanes.

Photo: Josh Kahen / Unsplash
A calm Atlantic horizon during what should be the season's most dangerous week.
Discuss
  • Why might the absence of hurricanes still be considered a scientifically significant event?
  • El Niño originates in the Pacific yet affects the Atlantic. What does this tell us about Earth's climate systems?
  • If this hurricane season is unusually quiet, does that mean affected coastal communities are safer overall — or not?
Science

Are We Finally Close to Finding Dark Matter?

Picture 85% of all the matter in the universe being completely invisible. That is the strange reality physicists have been wrestling with for decades — and it might be about to change. Scientists, including Dr Samuel Eriksen at the University of Bristol, believe they may have taken a genuine step toward detecting dark matter. Until now, its existence has only been inferred from the gravitational pull it exerts on visible objects. If the finding holds up, it could rewrite the foundations of physics entirely.…
  • If dark matter is finally detected, how might it change everyday technology?
∞
In an average season, there would have been eight named tropical storms and three hurricanes by this point.
BBC News meteorological report
Science

Earth Just Broke Its Hottest Month Record

August 2023 was not just warm. It was the single hottest month ever recorded in human history, according to Copernicus, the European Union's climate monitoring service. That is a remarkable thing to pause on. So what pushed temperatures over the edge? Scientists are pointing squarely at human-caused climate change, which has been steadily loading the atmosphere with heat-trapping gases for over a century. The record did not belong to one continent or one ocean. Every region on Earth felt it.…
  • Is individual lifestyle change enough, or must governments act first?
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theSIGNAL IN THE LAB
1VOCABULARY
wind shearinferred
suppressmeteorologistsparadox
organisestatistically
2GRAMMAR FOCUS
Third conditional — hypothetical past
The third conditional describes hypothetical situations in the past that did not happen. It is formed with 'if + past perfect' in the condition clause, and 'would/could/might + have + past participle' in the result clause.
would have formed · had not strengthened · had been · might have rewritten · could have tracked · would have broken · had produced · would have felt
  1. If El Niño so intensely this year, more Atlantic hurricanes would have developed by September.
  2. Scientists three hurricanes by this point in the season if conditions had been average.
  3. If August 2023 a cooler month, it would not have broken the global temperature record.
  4. The hurricane season a different record if even one storm had reached hurricane strength before 11 September.
  5. If dark matter already detected, physicists would have rewritten the foundations of physics entirely.
  6. If wind shear lower over the Atlantic, developing storms might have organised into full hurricanes.
3IDIOMS
Define each idiom in your own words. Then write one original sentence using any one of them.
  1. making history
  2. in plain sight
  3. hold the crown
  4. does not behave in straight lines
  5. pushed temperatures over the edge
4CRITICAL THINKING
Dark matter makes up 85% of all matter yet has never been directly observed, while August 2023 broke every temperature record yet many people still doubt climate change. What do these two situations reveal about the gap between scientific evidence and public understanding — and why might that gap be dangerous?
5CREATIVE · HEADLINES
Write a headline for the top story in each of the following styles. One line each, no explanation:
  • TABLOID NEWSPAPER
  • LUXURY MAGAZINE
  • ACTIVIST BLOG
6WRITING
El Niño is suppressing Atlantic hurricanes while simultaneously contributing to record global temperatures — two dramatic effects from a single climate pattern. Choose one of these consequences and argue which poses a greater long-term threat to human society, using evidence from the articles.
7DEGREES OF EXTREMITY
Complete each ladder from mild to strong.
  • warm→→
  • notable→→
  • unsettled→→
  • weakens→→
  • inferred→→
  • elevated→→
8SPEAKING
  1. Can a record of absence tell us as much as a record of occurrence?
  2. Which finding surprises you more: the quiet Atlantic or dark matter?
  3. How should scientists communicate climate paradoxes to the general public?
  4. Does breaking heat records change how urgently you personally feel about climate?