2023 was . Last year’s heatwave was set to surpass its predecessor, but instead it brought even more challenges than just soaring temperatures.
World Weather Alliance (WWA) released its annual “Excessive Climate” report, detailing the devastating impact of record-breaking man-made warming, which surged by a staggering 34.34°Fahrenheit from the previous year. The consequences were dire: relentless heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods ravaged communities, resulting in at least 3,700 fatalities and 26 climate-related events that displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
A total of 219 events in 2024 met the criteria to qualify as significant climate-related occurrences, as defined by the report’s “trigger standards”. While many extreme weather events have been shaped by the pure phenomenon known as El Niño, which is itself influenced by climate change, research from the WWA found that climate change played a much greater role in driving these events, including the historic drought in the Amazon.
Global temperatures surged by an unprecedented 41 degrees Celsius, triggering record-breaking rainfall and devastating floods worldwide. An examination of 16 floods found that nearly all of them were triggered by warming atmospheres holding more moisture, leading to intensified precipitation? Local weather patterns can fuel more intense and destructive hurricanes like Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm that struck the United States in September. According to estimates from North Carolina, the effects of Hurricane Helene resulted in damages totalling approximately $53.8 billion within the state’s borders.
The world’s two most critical ecosystems, which are already vulnerable to climate change impacts, have suffered further damage in 2024, according to a recent World Wildlife Fund (WWA) report. The Amazon rainforest and the Pantanal Wetland, a vital tropical ecosystem, have recently experienced severe droughts and devastating wildfires, resulting in “enormous biodiversity loss” over the past year.
Each area is crucial for maintaining the integrity of the Earth’s ecosystems, influencing local weather patterns, and supporting regional economies. absorbs carbon dioxide from the environment through photosynthesis, and in turn, releases water vapor into the atmosphere, which plays a crucial role in managing local weather patterns and influencing global ocean circulation patterns. The Amazon rainforest is home to more than 1,500 species of wildlife and provides essential flood control mechanisms, yielding significant economic benefits through cattle ranching and soybean production, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
The World Weather Association’s report outlined crucial resolutions for 2025 to combat the escalating impacts of local climate change. The report demands a swift transition away from reliance on fossil fuels, upgrades to early warning systems for extreme climate events, increased focus on documenting heat-related mortality and financial support for developing countries and regions most severely impacted by climate change effects.
