Climate change fuelled record extreme weather events across globe

Climate change worsened extreme weather events in 2024, making it an exceptional year of extremes, according to a recent report by World Weather Attribution and Climate Central.

The report ‘When Risks Become Reality: Extreme Weather In 2024’ analysed the impact of record-breaking temperatures in the form of relentless heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods with just 1.3°C of human-induced warming.

The report arrives as 2024 is poised  to become the hottest year on record. The first half of the year shattered temperature records,  , marking  13 consecutive months of unprecedented heat, culminating in the world’s hottest day ever recorded on July 22.

Global warming contributed to the deaths of at least 3,700 people in 26 weather events studied in the report. These were just a small fraction of the 219 events that met the trigger criteria, used to identify the most impactful weather events. The report noted that most likely the total number of people killed in extreme weather events intensified by climate change this year is in the tens, or hundreds of thousands. 

Record surge in temperatures

Globally, climate change added on average 41 additional days of dangerous heat in 2024. The highest number of people in a single day exposed to temperatures made at least two times more likely to occur due to climate change was 5.3 billion on July 21st. That was the hottest recorded day on Earth, before July 22nd subsequently broke that record.

Climate change made the hot, dry and windy conditions that drove the wildfires during June about 40% more intense, the scientists found.

“The impacts of fossil fuel warming have never been clearer or more devastating than in 2024. We are living in a dangerous new era. Extreme weather killed thousands of people, forced millions from their homes this year and caused unrelenting suffering. The floods in Spain, hurricanes in the US, drought in the Amazon, and floods across Africa are just a few examples,” said Dr Friederike Otto, lead of WWA and Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at Imperial College London.

Small islands and developing countries were the worst impacted by the intense heat as that experienced the highest number of dangerous heat during 2024. According to climate scientists, such states continue to be highly vulnerable and considered to be on the frontlines of climate change.

Deadlier storms

Hot seas and warmer air fuelled more destructive storms during the year. Hurricane Helene claimed over 230 lives, making it the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland US since Katrina in 2005. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton underwent explosive rapid intensification in the Gulf of Mexico, surging from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in just 24 hours. According to the report, climate change made the rainfall from these two events heavier by about 10% and wind speed was faster by 5–6 m/s. Additionally, the warm sea surface temperatures that fuelled the storms were over 200 times more likely due to climate change. A separate analysis by Climate Central revealed that climate change intensified every Atlantic hurricane in 2024, with wind speeds boosted by 9–28 mph because of warmer oceans. Without climate change, it is unlikely that Beryl and Milton would have reached Category 5 intensity.

The Philippines was hit by five typhoons and a tropical storm between mid-October and mid-November. The study found the likelihood of three or more major typhoons (defined as category 3 or above) making landfall in the Philippines in a given year has increased by about 25% due to human-induced climate change.

Climate Change over shadowing El Niño

Several extreme events that took place in the beginning of 2024 were attributed to El Niño, an oceanic phenomenon characterised by warming of the Pacific Ocean. However, the analysis found that climate change had a bigger influence than El Niño in fuelling these events. This was very much evident in the Amazon drought, where anthropogenic warming rather than El Niño was found to be the main driver of the exceptional drought. Similarly, studies of the UAE and Oman floods, Brazil floods and heatwaves in parts of Asia found the influence of climate change on these rainfall and heat events was often greater than the influence of El Niño.

This is consistent with the fact that, as the planet warms, the influence of climate change increasingly overrides other natural phenomena affecting the weather. 

“Another devastating year of extreme weather has shown that we are not well prepared for life at 1.3-1.5°C of warming. Our studies continue to show the need to enhance preparedness for extreme weather to reduce loss of life and damages. In 2025, it's crucial that every country accelerate efforts to adapt to climate change,” said Julie Arrighi, Director of Programmes at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre.

Resolution for future

In a bid to have a more sustainable world in the coming years, researchers called out for a faster shift away from fossil fuel to renewable energy. The report stressed on the major role played by early warning which is often the difference between life and death. Early warning systems are considered as a critical tool for reducing fatalities by giving people time to act before a hazard strikes.

The final resolution was the provision of finance for developing nations that bear the maximum brunt of extreme events despite very little contribution in the historic carbon emissions. Equipping developing nations with the resources to invest in climate adaptation will protect lives, preserve livelihoods, and foster a more stable and equitable global community.