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The Junior Explorer

Saturday 17 October 2026 · No. 2

Big Story Weather

A Warm Pacific Is Quieting the Atlantic Hurricane Season

Forecasters say this year’s Atlantic season is likely to be a quiet one.

CHANCE OF A QUIET SEASON NOAA forecast, percent

NOAA raised the chance of a below-normal season.

Hurricanes are giant storms that form over warm ocean water. This year, forecasters expect El Niño, a warm pattern in the Pacific Ocean. NOAA, the US weather agency, said there was a 90% chance of a strong or very strong El Niño during August, September and October.

El Niño changes the winds high in the sky over the Atlantic Ocean. Those winds can break up storms before they grow. NOAA said every strong El Niño since 1950 has come with a below-normal Atlantic hurricane season.

In August, NOAA said the chance of a below-normal season was 75%. In May, it had been 55%. It expects 7 to 13 named storms. Even so, NOAA’s leader warned that “it only takes one” storm to cause trouble.

🗺️ Where in the world?

📍 Atlantic Ocean · United States
For grown-ups: sources

Science Time

A New Kind of Clock Fixes Itself

Scientists in Vienna ran a nuclear clock for over a day without any help.

A Clock That Fixes Itself
A laser and a crystal keep the time.

A clock needs something that ticks at a steady speed. This new clock uses the nucleus of an atom of thorium-229. The nucleus is the tiny centre of an atom. A laser shines on a crystal that holds the thorium.

The big news is that the clock corrects itself. The system notices when the laser drifts and fixes it. The prototype ran for over 24 hours with no one adjusting it. It was built at TU Wien in Austria with a lab in Germany called PTB.

It is very precise. Its error is about one second in 30 million years. A long life lasts about 100 years, so it would take 300,000 of those to drift by a second. The best clocks that use whole atoms are still more precise.

🗺️ Where in the world?

📍 Vienna · Austria
For grown-ups: sources

Around the World Fiji and Tuvalu

Island Nations Meet to Plan for a Big Climate Summit

Leaders from the Pacific talked about keeping the planet from warming too much.

Islands and the Sea
Pacific nations helped set priorities for COP31.

Fiji and Tuvalu are island nations in the Pacific Ocean. From October 5 to 8, official meetings were held in Nadi, Fiji, to get ready for COP31. COP31 is a big United Nations climate meeting. It will be held in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9 to 20.

Tuvalu’s representative warned that the 1.5-degree goal, a limit on how much the planet warms, is in danger.

The next big step comes in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9 to 20. That is when the COP31 summit itself takes place. Leaders from many countries will be there. Island nations like Fiji and Tuvalu want to be heard when they arrive.

🗺️ Where in the world?

📍 Nadi · Fiji, Tuvalu
For grown-ups: sources

Sport

FOOTBALL

The Saudi Pro League moved three games. Al Ahli v Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s team, is now set for 6 March 2027. Two other games move to 19 December. The league said the reason was rest time between matches.

Explorer Challenge

Count a Minute

You need a timer or a clock with a second hand. Tap a pencil on the table at a steady speed for one minute. Ask a friend to count your taps.

Now do it again. Were both counts the same? A good clock ticks at the same speed every time. A clock that fixes itself, like the one in Vienna, keeps its ticks steady even when something tries to change them.

Did you know?

The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 30, so it is still going on.

How It Works

How does El Niño quiet hurricanes?

Hurricanes grow best when the winds high in the sky blow gently. Tall storm clouds can then stand straight up and spin.

During El Niño, the winds high above the Atlantic get stronger. NOAA says these stronger winds disrupt storm growth, like a gust that knocks over a tower of blocks.

In brief

More news

  • Albania: Students in the capital, Tirana, protested for a third day about university costs and jobs.
  • Ukraine: Russia’s missiles hit Kyiv’s heat and power plants, and at least 600,000 people were without power.
  • Saudi Arabia: The football league moved three games, including one for Cristiano Ronaldo’s team.
  • Kenya: Health officials confirmed the country’s first Ebola case on October 6 and traced people who had been near the patient.
  • Austria: Scientists in Vienna reported a clock that corrects itself.

New words

Words from this issue

El Niño
A warm pattern in the Pacific Ocean that changes weather around the world. Today: A strong El Niño is quieting the Atlantic hurricane season.
Forecast
A careful guess about what will happen, based on facts. Today: NOAA’s forecast says a quiet season is likely.
Nucleus
The tiny centre of an atom. Today: The Vienna clock uses the nucleus of thorium-229.
Summit
A big meeting of leaders. Today: COP31 is a climate summit in Türkiye in November.

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