Climate Change

Climate Change Drives Extreme Weather Events Across Three Continents
The last decade (2015-2024) was the warmest on record, with Earth's surface now about 1.42°C warmer than in the late 1800s. Climate and climate change have fundamentally altered our planet's weather systems, pushing us beyond temperature thresholds not seen in 100,000 years. What is climate change, though, beyond these numbers? It exemplifies shifts in temperature and weather patterns that have been occurring for a long time and are now manifesting as severe droughts, devastating fires, rising sea levels, devastating storms, and a decline in biodiversity. Moreover, current policies point to 2.8°C of warming by century's end. We examine how these changes drive devastating extreme weather events across Asia, North America, and Europe, affecting millions of lives.
What Is Climate Change and How Does It Fuel Extreme Weather
The Scientific Basis for Global Warming
Human actions since the Industrial Revolution fundamentally altered Earth's atmospheric composition. The burning of fossil fuels accounts for around 68% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions. Coal, oil, and gas combustion for electricity, heat, and transportation releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, trapping solar radiation. Over the past century, massive increases in carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gas emissions caused planetary temperatures to spike.
Global land surface air temperature has risen 1.53°C since the preindustrial period of 1850-1900. This increase surpasses the observed warming combined over land and oceans, which stands at 0.87°C. The world is now warming faster than at any point in recorded history. Every decade since the 1980s has been warmer than the previous one.
Weather patterns are amplified by greenhouse gases.
As carbon dioxide, methane, and other gasses increase, they act as a blanket, trapping heat and warming the planet. In response, Earth's air and ocean temperatures warm. The water cycle changes, weather patterns change, and land ice melts as a result of this warming. All these impacts make extreme weather worse.
More water vapour is held in warmer air. In fact, humidity rises about 3.5% for every degree Fahrenheit that temperature rises. Air can hold about 7% more water vapour for every 1°C increase in temperature. Heavy rain events become more intense as a result of this added moisture. Rain gages show that the rainiest day each year has gotten roughly 3.5% wetter for every degree Fahrenheit of global warming.
Why Weather Events Are Becoming More Frequent
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Sixth Assessment Report released in 2021 confirms that human-caused greenhouse gas rise has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Evidence of observed changes in extremes and their attribution to human influence has strengthened, particularly for extreme precipitation, droughts, tropical cyclones, and compound extremes.
Extremes change statistically significantly on a global scale even with relatively modest incremental increases of 0.5°C in global warming. Heavy precipitation will generally become more frequent and intense with additional global warming. On a global scale, extremely rare heavy precipitation events that occur once every ten years or more would become more frequent and intense at a 4°C warming level compared to preindustrial times. Climate change, more extreme weather, and improved reporting have all contributed to a five-fold increase in the number of disasters over the past 50 years.
Devastating Weather Events Strike Asia
Devastating Weather Events Strike Asia
Between May and September 2024, monsoon rains that began earlier than usual and intensified beyond normal patterns caused severe flooding in South Asia. Over 18 million people in Bangladesh were affected, and flash floods submerged vast areas, trapping over 1.2 million families. The worst affected regions were Cartogram and Sylhet, where major rivers flowed well above danger levels. There were approximately five million affected individuals, including two million children, according to initial estimates. Some of the worst floods since 1983 occurred in the Indian state of Tripura as a result of extraordinary precipitation over the course of 72 hours. The rains along with over 2,000 resulting landslides affected 1.7 million people, including around 117,000 displaced to relief camps. From June to August, at least 250 deaths occurred in India, 200 in Nepal, and 200 in Bangladesh. In Pakistan, disasters claimed 243 lives since July, with about half being children. Between August and October, floods displaced 256,400 people and caused the deaths of 57 people in Thailand.
Unprecedented Heat Waves Claim Thousands of Lives
Record-breaking heat struck Asia in April 2024, with weather historian Maximiliano Herrera calling it "the most extreme event in world climatic history". Several parts of India recorded maximum temperatures over 110 degrees Fahrenheit, with Badura reaching 114.8 degrees on April 21. Bangladesh experienced temperatures soaring to nearly 110 degrees, forcing school closures twice within two weeks. In the beginning of April, the Philippines experienced unprecedented temperatures of up to 111 degrees, while Myanmar recorded temperatures around 115 degrees. In Thailand, 30 deaths were blamed on heat stroke by early May.
Tropical Cyclones Intensify in Coastal Regions
Research shows tropical cyclones in Southeast Asia are forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly, and lingering longer over land. Cities like Bangkok, Hai Phuong, and Yangon face increases in both tropical cyclone intensity and duration. As cyclones travel across warmer oceans from climate and climate change, they pull in more water vapour and heat, meaning stronger wind and heavier rainfall when hitting land.
North America Battles Wildfires and Historic Storms
Massive Wildfires Consume Western Regions
Every western state faces above-normal wildfire threats as snow droughts, rapid snowmelt, and unprecedented heat waves create dangerous conditions. As of August 21, 2025, more than 3,997,080 acres burned across the U.S. in 44,470 fires. By April 24, 2026, fires had already consumed 1,815,628 acres, surpassing the 10-year average. California alone saw 5,543 wildfires burning 371,662 acres, destroying at least 16,344 structures and killing 31 people.
No longer are wildfires restricted to the western regions. In Georgia, rapidly growing blazes destroyed more than 50 homes as experts warned that fires are becoming more frequent and intense across the eastern United States. So far this year, 2,802 square miles of the U.S. has burned in wildfires, 88% more than the 10-year average for this time of year. In Georgia alone, Hurricane Helene downed more than 26 million tons of pine and 30 million tons of hardwood, creating what experts describe as a ticking time bomb of fuel.
Hurricane Systems Grow More Destructive
Climate and climate change caused maximum wind speeds in roughly 80% of Atlantic Basin hurricanes from 2019 to 2023 to intensify by an average of 18 miles per hour. Thirty hurricanes out of 38 reached intensities roughly one category higher on the Safer-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale compared to their expected strength without human influence. The proportion of major hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean has doubled since 1980.
Extreme Cold Snaps Disrupt Power Grids
During cold weather, parts of the U.S. electrical grid have experienced blackouts, shut-downs, or close calls in five of the last 11 years. In December 2022, Winter Storm Elliott caused unplanned outages of more than 70,000 MWs of generation, necessitating firm load sheds of more than 5,000 MW by balancing authorities in the south-eastern United States. In 2021, a storm in Texas knocked out power to more than 4.5 million people, and the grid came within nine minutes of going out completely.
Flooding and deadly heatwaves confront Europe
Mediterranean Countries Face Extreme Temperatures
Europe experienced deadly heatwaves in summer 2024 and 2025. Temperatures surpassed 40°C across Mediterranean countries during July, killing at least 21 people in Morocco. June 2025 marked western Europe's warmest June on record at 20.49°C. In late June and early July, sea surface temperatures regularly exceeded 30°C, six to seven degrees above average, off the Majorcan coast. The extreme heat would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate and climate change, with temperatures pushed up more than 3°C.
Floods in Central Europe are catastrophic
Storm Boris ravaged Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Austria, and Italy in September 2024, causing at least 24 deaths. The four-day rainfall was the heaviest ever recorded in central Europe, made twice as likely by climate and climate change. Between 7% and 10% of the probability was doubled and the rain intensity was increased by human activity. Damage to the infrastructure amounted to billions of euros.
Drought Conditions Threaten Agriculture
In the EU, drought is responsible for 54% of agricultural losses. By the end of April 2025, orange drought warnings were issued for nearly a third of the continent. North-western Europe experienced severe rainfall deficits, threatening yields of winter and spring crops. Major crops like wheat, corn, and soybeans were severely affected by the drought.
Glaciers in the Alps melt at alarming rates
Over the past year, 94 of the 96 glaciers measured in Austria have shrunk. Swiss glaciers lost 3% of their volume in 2025. Studies predict 52% of Switzerland's small glaciers will disappear within 25 years. The Pasteurize glacier tongue will likely break off in coming years, splitting Austria's largest glacier in two.
Conclusion
We have witnessed undeniably how climate and climate change reshape weather patterns across three continents. The evidence speaks clearly: human activities drive these catastrophic events affecting millions. The crisis necessitates an immediate response, from submerged cities in Bangladesh to raging wildfires in California and unprecedented heatwaves in Europe. By 2100, global warming will be 2.8°C due to current policies. Equally important, our window for meaningful action narrows with each passing year as extreme weather intensifies globally.