In 2022, data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service showed that the past eight years had been the eighth hottest ever recorded – suggesting that we’re only headed one way as global warming continues to worsen. With extreme weather becoming more common, more intense and more long-lasting due to the climate crisis, heatwaves, wildfires, droughts and heavy rains are proving deadlier by the day.
Click through for the most terrifying record-smashing weather events from the past two years driven by climate change...
East African countries including Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia experienced their fifth consecutive season of failed rains in 2022, pushing 22 million people to the brink of starvation according to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). The drought – effects of which continue to be felt – is the worst in 40 years, has killed tens of thousands of people and livestock, and has tipped the region into devastating food insecurity. A study conducted by the World Weather Attribution initiative in 2023 said the brutal event was made 100 times more likely by human-caused climate change.
The heaviest rains Seoul had seen in 115 years fell in August 2022, with 5.6 inches (141.5mm) of downpour per hour. The deluge killed at least 11 people across the northern part of South Korea and exacerbated concerns about the capital’s vulnerability to the climate crisis, prompting Mayor Oh Se-hoon to announce an investment of 1.5 trillion won (£900m/$1.1bn) to improve the city’s flood defences over the next decade. Tragically, the plans came too late, as another catastrophic flood in July 2023 killed more than 40 people.
This aerial image, taken on 5 September 2022, shows homes in Pakistan’s Balochistan province consumed by floodwaters after a record monsoon season. The heaviest summer rains in a decade wiped out residential areas, roads and crops, causing never-before-seen destruction. More than 1,700 people lost their lives, while some 10 million were left without safe drinking water and around 20.6 million in need of humanitarian aid. With a third of the country underwater, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman called the flooding a "crisis of unimaginable proportions".
July 2022 saw temperatures in the UK exceed 40ºC (104ºF) for the first time ever. Highs of 40.3ºC (104.5ºF) were registered in England at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, on 19 July, while Scotland and Wales also sweltered through their hottest-ever days. In total, six places endured heat above 40ºC (104ºF), while the previous UK record of 38.7ºC (101.7ºF) was smashed in a further 28 locations. Wildfires also broke out in Wennington, Greater London (pictured), claiming 41 homes. Experts believe such heatwaves are becoming more frequent, more intense and long-lasting due to human-induced climate change.
The harsh summer of 2022, combined with persistent lack of rainfall, also helped lead Europe to its driest summer in five centuries. Drought ravaged agriculture in countries like France, Italy and Portugal, putting strain on crops and hydropower energy facilities. Though linking individual droughts to climate change can be difficult, analysis shows that this drought was made at least 20 times more likely by the climate crisis. Pictured here is the Sau Reservoir in Catalonia, Spain, where the church of a once-flooded village re-emerged due to low water levels.
Meteorologists started 2023 in a state of shock when Poland, Denmark, Czechia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands all experienced their warmest January days on record. In Poland and Czechia, the mercury hit 19ºC (66.2ºF) and 19.6ºC (67.3ºF) respectively, well above the countries’ average January numbers of 1 to 3ºC (33.8-37.4ºF). Here, swimmers in the Dutch town of Wassenaar participate in an annual New Year’s Dive which, in 2023, happened on the country’s warmest New Year’s Day (and January day) ever.
January 2023 also saw freak weather records broken in the Southern Hemisphere, when the Kimberley region of Western Australia experienced the worst flooding in state history. The Fitzroy River, usually a popular destination for outdoor recreation, swelled to 52 feet (15.8m), about 5.9 feet (1.8m) above its previous record. Hundreds of isolated people were airlifted to safety, while some majority Aboriginal communities said they did not receive sufficient support from the authorities. Called a 'one-in-100-year' occurrence, Australia's climate change minister Chris Bowen stated there was 'absolutely' correlation between global warming and the record flooding.
Cyclone Gabrielle made landfall in New Zealand as a powerful subtropical storm in mid-February 2023, after downgrading from a tropical cyclone. But the squall still went on to become the Southern Hemisphere’s costliest tropical cyclone ever, with damages estimated at around NZ$10 billion (£5.2bn/$6.6bn). It pummelled the country’s North Island, prompting a state of emergency to be declared for only the third time in New Zealand’s history. Subsequent flooding and landslides claimed 11 lives and left a trail of catastrophe, with climate scientists linking human-caused warming to the increased rainfall.
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Following a month-long reign of terror, Tropical Cyclone Freddy was finally declared over on 14 March 2023, but not before claiming around 600 lives and changing hundreds of thousands more. It struck the coast of southern Africa in two waves, tearing through Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique, and taking the record for the highest accumulated cyclone energy (a measure based on a storm’s wind strength over its lifetime) of any Southern Hemisphere storm. According to the World Meteorological Organization, it was as forceful as a full North Atlantic hurricane season. The WFP said Freddy was "a call to the world not to turn away from the climate crisis".
Twenty-one people were killed in Mississippi when a volatile wedge-shaped tornado ripped through the American south on 24 March 2023 – the state’s deadliest in more than a decade, according to the National Weather Service. The small delta town of Rolling Fork bore the brunt: homes were reduced to rubble, trees pulled apart and cars tossed into the air. The tornado stayed on the ground for 80 minutes and spanned around 170 miles (274 km). While the exact impact of global warming on tornadoes remains unknown, Victor Gensini, an extreme weather expert at Northern Illinois University, believes it’s unavoidable.
In May 2023, Laos and Vietnam were scorched by their hottest temperatures ever when a fierce heatwave swept across Southeast Asia. The extreme heat, which saw temperatures spike to record highs in the Thai capital, reached 44.2°C (111.6°F) in the district of Tuong Duong in northern Vietnam and 43.5°C (110.3°F) in Luang Prabang, while in Bangkok the mercury skyrocketed to 41°C (105.8°F). In this image, street vendor Vu Thi Phuong suffers in the relentless heat while serving coffee to her customers in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The lower 48 American states were stifled beneath an oppressive heat dome during the summer of 2023, with the zone from Arizona to Texas experiencing temperatures more ferocious than ever before. Three weeks of record-breaking heat brought highs of 51°C (125°F) to Corpus Christi, Texas, while Colorado’s Denver International Airport and Oklahoma’s Tulsa Airport also reported record-toppling figures. More than 170 million Americans were placed under heat alerts, with climate change predicted to make instances like this all the more severe and frequent.
The heat dome subsequently caused Phoenix, Arizona’s capital city, to go into meltdown. For a record-breaking 31 straight days temperatures exceeded 43°C (110°F), leaving 25 people dead from heat-related complications across Maricopa County. Thousands more were treated for second-degree contact burns as pavements sizzled at 71°C (160°F). Other US cities also entered the record books for streaks of extreme heat: El Paso, Texas endured temperatures above 37.7°C (100°F) for 44 consecutive days while Miami, Florida did the same for 46 days in a row.
In a break from the hellish heat and wildfires affecting other parts of Italy during July 2023, violent rain and hail instead crashed down on areas like Seregno in Lombardy (pictured), where streets were flooded. In Azzano Decimo, a comune in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Europe’s largest ever hailstone was recorded as a result of the deluge – a 7.5-inch (19cm) whopper which narrowly missed out on the world record set by an eight-inch (20cm) stone in South Dakota in 2010. Larger hailstones are believed to stem from rising global temperatures, caused by climate change.
China recorded its highest-ever temperature on 16 July 2023, following the country’s hottest June since 2000 and Shanghai’s hottest May day in more than 100 years. The record-breaking hotspot was the remote Sanbao township in the Turpan depression of western Xinjiang, where blistering heat soared to 52.2°C (126°F), breaking the country’s previous record of 50.6°C (123°F) from 2017. Workers and students were told to stay home for their own safety and air raid shelters were opened to provide respite, while special vehicles were dispatched to mist water onto major roads.
It’s not just land temperatures that caused concern in 2023. Extreme heat in the North Atlantic prompted an even more urgent wake-up call among scientists, who had never seen a marine heatwave in this part of the Atlantic Ocean before. While linking this to the climate crisis is complex, oceans have clearly absorbed warmth from the atmosphere as the planet’s temperature has continued to rise. There were troubled waters elsewhere too, with some of the most intense marine heat increases on Earth developing in the North Sea, as well as unprecedented temperatures in the Florida Keys sparking a mass coral-bleaching event.
Following China’s record-breaking heat, Storm Doksuri (a former super typhoon) unleashed a different kind of hell at the end of July into early August 2023, when it drowned Beijing in the worst rains the city had seen since records began. At least 20 people were killed, including a firefighter who was washed away by flood waters as he was attempting to save three people from a stricken school building. Scientists say the extreme weather that China has been experiencing in recent years has been compounded by the climate crisis.
More than 100 people on the island of Maui lost their lives in August 2023 when devastating blazes tore through the historic town and beach resorts of Lahaina. Buffeted by strong winds and accelerated by the tinder-dry grasses of drought-stricken Maui, the wildfires spread rapidly, damaging over 2,200 buildings in Lahaina alone and turning its iconic seafront (pictured) to ash. The US Fire Administrator later declared the Lahaina Fire America’s deadliest in over a century. As human-caused climate change triggers hotter and drier conditions across the world, wildfires are given even more fuel to thrive.
As the Earth’s atmosphere continues to warm and heat our oceans, the rapid intensification of hurricanes, tropical cyclones and storms is becoming ever more likely. This was the case with Hurricane Idalia in August 2023, which briefly touched Category 4 status over the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall as a Category 3 hurricane. It was the strongest storm to hit Florida’s Big Bend region in more than 125 years. This image shows a mother and daughter wading through waist-deep flood waters in Tarpon Springs after Idalia caused storm surges to overwhelm their home.
After slamming into Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria in early September 2023, Storm Daniel crossed the warm waters of the Mediterranean and grew into a ‘medicane’ – a phenomenon similar to hurricanes and typhoons. Daniel then brought torrential rainfall down on Libya, with the city of Derna (pictured) bearing the brunt. Two dams burst, flooding streets and washing away whole neighbourhoods with 'tsunami-like waves'. An estimated 4,000 people were killed, making Storm Daniel the deadliest and costliest medicane ever recorded. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution initiative say planet-warming pollution made the violent rains up to 50 times more likely and 50% worse.
September and October 2023 were confirmed to be the warmest September and October months on record globally, following what – at the time – had also been the hottest June, July and August ever documented on Earth. Experts attributed the unprecedented temperatures to a combination of human-caused climate change and the effects of the El Nino weather pattern. In this photo, people sunbathe on a beach in Biarritz, France on 7 October 2023.
October 2023 also saw Malawi battered by its hottest weekend on record when a dangerous heatwave sent temperatures soaring way above the seasonal average. The heat peaked in parts of the country at 43°C (109°F) – around 25°C (77°F) is considered normal for the time of year. The Malawian government told citizens to stay hydrated and keep out of the sun, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, while some schools in the country’s south were evacuated. With the extreme heatwave following the pattern of record-breaking global temperatures in 2023, scientists cited climate change as the cause.
Hitting record lows in 2023, the water levels at the Brazilian port of Manaus first dropped to 44.6 feet (13.5m) on Monday 16 October, before falling to as low as 41.6 feet (12.7m) in the following weeks. The major river port sits at the confluence of the Rio Negro and the Amazon, where the water line sank to its lowest point since records began in 1902. Researchers confirmed in 2024 that although El Nino definitely contributed to what became the Amazon's worst drought on record, human-caused climate change was the main driver.
Like Florida’s Hurricane Idalia, the East Pacific’s Hurricane Otis was a rapid intensifier. It hit Acapulco, Mexico in late October 2023, soaring to wind speeds of a formidable 165 miles per hour (266km/h) as its Category 5 might pummelled the beach city. The strongest Pacific storm to ever strike Mexico, Otis claimed at least 52 lives and caused around £9 million ($12m) worth of destruction, also making it the country’s costliest tropical cyclone on record. This photo was taken about a week after the hurricane first made landfall, leaving boats stranded on the sand and buildings in ruins.
On 9 January 2024, scientists confirmed that 2023 was the planet’s hottest year since records began. The combination of El Nino and human-caused climate change spiked global temperatures from June onwards, smashing record after record as every month between June and December was warmer than the corresponding month in any previous year. Overall, 2023 had a global average temperature of 14.98°C (58.96°F) and represented the first time on record that every day of the year surpassed 1°C (1.8°F) above pre-industrial levels. If that wasn’t worrying enough, 2024 is on track to be even warmer.
Brazil has been blighted by fatal flooding for the past few years – in 2020, climate-crisis-related disasters were blamed for the deaths of 150 people in three states. The southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul was hit with several deadly deluges throughout 2023, only to experience even worse rains in late April and early May 2024. This time, around 1,476,000 people were affected and at least 107 killed in Rio Grande do Sul’s harshest flooding since 1941 – water levels in some cities reached their highest since records began nearly 150 years ago. The following months saw further flooding drench the state – this 70-year-old woman was pictured in June in Porto Alegre with two flood-rescued dogs.
The Indian capital region of Delhi endured its highest-ever temperature on 29 May 2024, with thermometer readings in the suburb of Mungeshpur measuring 52.9°C (127.2°F). The all-time high came during a dangerous heatwave that gripped northern and western India from May through June, causing school students to faint in classrooms and drinking water taps to run dry. In this photo, New Delhi residents can be seen filling plastic barrels in the street with water delivered by a municipal tanker, in light of water rationing across the city. The heatwaves ultimately gave way to record rains and flash flooding, with scientists linking the events to climate change.
Throughout May and June 2024, Mexico roasted beneath an intense heat dome that caused dozens of deaths and record-high temperatures in 10 cities, including the nation’s capital. While heat domes are a natural phenomenon, climate scientists have stated that the climate crisis and the human burning of fossil fuels likely increased the severity of the Mexican event. The country’s hottest day ever was recorded in June in the Sonoran Desert, with the mercury hitting 51.6°C (125°F). In the southeastern state of Tabasco, the heat was so oppressive that even howler monkeys were dropping out of trees, killed by heatstroke.
Hurricane Beryl was the first Atlantic hurricane of the season in 2024, forming at the end of June and continuing its reign of terror for several days in July as it devastated Caribbean islands such as Jamaica (pictured), Barbados and Grenada. What made Beryl so deadly and destructive was the speed at which it reached Category 5 status – according to the LA Times, no storm in the Atlantic has ever achieved such strength as early as Beryl did. After taking a number of lives, capsizing fishing boats, toppling power lines, scattering debris and stripping homes of their roofs, the hurricane eventually weakened to Category 3.
22 July 2024 became the hottest day in recorded history when the global average surface air temperature peaked at 17.15°C (62.87°F), beating a record set the day before that had surpassed the previous hottest day on Earth (6 July 2023). Becoming the 14th consecutive month to set a global heat record, July 2024 was also the planet’s hottest month, with extreme heat scorching countries like Greece, Russia, China and Canada. Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, called this human-caused climate change in action. Pictured here is a scene from Rome, Italy on 23 July, with people struggling to cool off during an ongoing heatwave.
Summer smashed global heat records for the second year running in 2024, with the months of June, July and August confirmed by Copernicus to be the hottest such period ever recorded. El Nino’s enduring impact on the Earth’s temperature coupled with destructive man-made air pollution and increased global warming led to a spell of deadly heatwaves, storms and wildfires that made even the Southern Hemisphere’s winter unbearable in places – Australia saw its hottest August day ever. In June, a staggering 1,300 people on the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia (pictured) tragically died due to extreme heat later attributed to climate change.
Severe wildfires have unfortunately become par for the course as hotter, drier and windier weather continues to be symptomatic of the climate crisis. Throughout 2024, several countries and regions around the world endured some of their worst wildfires on record. At least 131 lives were lost in central Chile in February, while blazes in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands burned through vegetation and animal habitats in the area’s worst June fires in history. Jasper National Park in Canada’s Rocky Mountains experienced its worst wildfires in over a century in July, and Portugal’s worst series of forest fires in recent years raged in September (pictured).
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