Weather has the power to reshape, create and even destroy parts of our planet. As global warming accelerates, many countries face the consequences of increasingly extreme conditions. Take a look at these photos from 2018 to see just how transforming weather can be on landscapes and landmarks around the world.

A combination of wind and torrential rain in October caused some of the worst floods in Venice for almost 150 years. Damage to the 1,000-year-old St Mark’s Basilica cathedral caused the building to age 20 years during the course of the flood. Costs for repairs stacked up to around £2.5 million ($3.25m), with intricate areas like the historic mosaic flooring being badly affected.

Following the extreme flooding, Italy was hit with violent winds which whipped through the Asiago Plateau forests in the north-east of the country. Around 300,000 trees were destroyed by the turbulent weather at the end of October, meaning 10% of the natural woodlands has been wiped out.

Multiple fires have combined to cause devastation in California, USA, since early November. Dry conditions and winds of up to 60 miles per hour propelled the blazes and caused more than 200 square miles of damage. At time of writing, the fires are ongoing and the true extent of the damage won’t be apparent until the flames are finally extinguished.

Thanks to global warming, rising temperatures are threatening frozen landscapes everywhere. In Switzerland, residents face a losing battle as they desperately try to prolong the life of the Rhone Glacier in the Alps mountains. The locals band together and drag humongous, reflective blankets across the glacier’s melting peaks to try and protect them from the increasingly warm weather.

The Great Barrier Reef has suffered extreme bleaching because of high temperatures. Climate change has meant hotter waters, which have destroyed the brightly coloured algae the coral reef feeds off. Without it, the coral can’t survive and in some of the northern sections around half of the underwater wonder is now dead.

Storms in early October caused havoc in the Joshua Tree area of California, USA. The violent weather triggered floods which spread through the Joshua Tree National Park. The region had already been hit with its fair share of extreme weather conditions. Frequent lightning strikes have caused multiple fires while major droughts have left the trees and landscapes dying.

Not too far away, a wildfire raged across the Yosemite area in July. High temperatures, not enough rain and dry conditions led to the blaze spreading rapidly and becoming almost impossible for fire-fighters to control. Yosemite National Park shut down to try and protect the waterfalls, cliffs and historic peaks which became smothered in thick smoke from the flames.

The effects of global warming and rising temperatures are everywhere, but nowhere more so than Antarctica. The Pine Island Glacier lost an iceberg chunk 4.5 times the size of Manhattan last year. A deep new crack has appeared this year, meaning an even more colossal piece is threatening to break loose. Glaciers breaking up and melting gradually cause sea levels around the world to rise.

In January, the furious winds of Storm Eleanor caused floods, power shortages and building damage across the UK and mainland Europe. Some beaches also found their coastlines reconfigured. The lashing storm battered the terrain into these sand cliffs in Belgium with embankments reaching up to 20 feet high. The effect was also seen in other places such as Cornwall in south-west England.

Over in Germany, adverse weather conditions coincided during the summer and meant the Rhine River hit record low water levels. A heat wave, unfavourable winds and very little rain left the banks of the river completely dry. The local ecosystem was at risk and shipping companies relying on the route lost huge sums of money.

Having the opposite problem back in January, Montecito was pelted with relentless downpours of rain. The weather caused forceful mudflows to charge towards the wealthy southern California neighbourhood. The mudslides carved chunks out of roads and buildings and completely desolated the homes of residents, even taking some of their lives. The town is gradually being rebuilt but many of the original buildings will never be recovered.

Huge dust storms claimed the lives of hundreds of people in India. Strong vertical blasts of wind called downbursts destroyed buildings, uprooted trees and tore through multiple states, including Allahabad, pictured here. High temperatures spurred the drastic weather on, while thunder and lightning storms set in. Again, the finger has been pointed at climate change.

Up at the highest point of the Andes Mountains sits the world’s loneliest glacier. In the 1990s there were five glaciers in this region but the weather has continued to become warmer thanks to climate change. Now the Humboldt glacier is the last one standing in Venezuela. The glacier continues to shrink year on year and is now just 1% of its original size.

Normally one of the UK capital's most gloriously lush green spaces, Greenwich Park was a barren expanse of dry brown grass when this picture was taken on 23 July 2018. An unusually long heatwave across Europe saw just 47 millimetres (1.8 inches) of rain recorded in Britain between 1 June and 16 July, and it was one of the hottest summers in London since records began in 1910. 

Now read about the landmarks under threat from climate change. 

India was also hit this year by furious monsoons across the state of Kerala. The extreme weather caused the worst flooding in a century and once more claimed hundreds of lives. The gushing waters and continuous rain transformed the landscape into a sea of ruined homes and stranded villages. 

 

In May, extreme warnings were issued as Hawaii suffered a cinematic-scale weather emergency. Lava erupted from cracks around the base of the Mount Kilauea volcano and reacted with the air to create a toxic smog. As the lava charged into the sea, another reaction created a billowing, smoke-like haze while some of it solidified into rocks of ‘rain’. The flood of lava destroyed anything that came into its path and even evaporated Green Lake, Big Island’s largest freshwater body. For more jaw-dropping pictures see our feature on the most extreme weather in every US state.