{"id":49140,"date":"2026-11-05T14:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T13:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/05\/how-el-nino-and-summer-heatwaves-have-starved-our-christmas-trees-and-led-to-a-shortage\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T14:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T13:35:09","slug":"how-el-nino-and-summer-heatwaves-have-starved-our-christmas-trees-and-led-to-a-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/05\/how-el-nino-and-summer-heatwaves-have-starved-our-christmas-trees-and-led-to-a-shortage\/","title":{"rendered":"How El Nino and summer heatwaves have starved our Christmas trees and led to a shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/christmas\">Christmas<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/features\/john-lewis-christmas-advert-2026-kristin-scott-thomas-b3078213.html\">adverts are out<\/a>, the nights are drawing in, and the more organised among us might be starting to think about preparing for the festive season. But if you\u2019re already planning the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/christmas-tree-decorations-home-baubles-ribbon-bow-b3072025.html\">perfect Yuletide tableau<\/a> for your living room, brace yourself for some not particularly glad tidings, because this year could see Britain beset by a Christmas tree shortage. <\/p>\n<p>A chunky evergreen conifer, decked out in a mix of tasteful baubles, family heirlooms or kids\u2019 art and craft projects, has been a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/long_reads\/dark-side-christmas-saturnalia-christmas-carol-dickens-norse-mythology-festive-traditions-a8112341.html\">mainstay of Christmas<\/a> in the UK ever since the Victorian era, when <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/queen-victoria\">Queen Victoria<\/a>\u2019s husband, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/prince-albert\">Prince Albert<\/a>, kickstarted the trend, bringing the tradition over from his native <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/germany\">Germany<\/a> (it had previously enjoyed a brief vogue when <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/king-george-iii\">King George III<\/a>\u2019s wife <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/queen-charlotte\">Queen Charlotte<\/a> \u2013 yes, the one who\u2019s been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/news\/queen-charlotte-bridgerton-story-recap-b2339200.html\" title=\"Queen Charlotte viewers say Netflix series has opened up \u2018plot hole\u2019 for Bridgerton\">reimagined in high camp period drama style in <em>Bridgerton<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em>and its spin-offs \u2013 had one installed in her palace).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The unpredictable weather has dried out this year\u2019s stock (Getty)<\/p>\n<p>But this summer\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/super-el-nino-autumn-winter-weather-b3044114.html\" title=\"\u2018I have never seen an El Nino forecast this intense \u2013 it will be an unprecedented event\u2019\">spate of back-to-back heatwaves<\/a>,<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"echo_read_more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/christmas-tree-shortage-heatwave-b3079233.html\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0\u00bb\u00a0More Info >>><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Christmas adverts are out, the nights are drawing in, and the more organised among us might be starting to think about preparing for the festive season. But if you\u2019re already planning the perfect Yuletide tableau for your living room, brace yourself for some not particularly glad tidings, because this year could see Britain beset<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":49141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","wpai_meta_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[708,36],"class_list":["post-49140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-netbuzz","tag-lifestyle","tag-mixtv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixtv1.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}