EXPLAINER: How climate change is driving extreme weather events

Global temperatures in 2024 exceeded 1.5 Celsius above the pre-industrial era for the first time, bringing the world closer to breaching the pledge governments made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, according to scientists.

The World Meteorological Organization confirmed the 1.5C breach, after reviewing data from U.S., U.K., Japan and EU scientists.

Extreme weather swept around the world in 2024, with severe drought hitting Italy and South America, fatal floods in Nepal, Sudan and Europe, heatwaves in Mexico, Mali and Saudi Arabia that killed thousands, and disastrous cyclones in the U.S. and the Philippines.

Scientists say human-induced climate change is making extreme weather events like heatwaves, floods and storms more frequent and deadly and this trend will continue if the world keeps burning fossil fuels.

Last 2 years crossed 1.5°C global warming limit — EU monitor

HOTTER, MORE FREQUENT HEATWAVES

Climate change makes heatwaves hotter and more frequent. This is the case for most land regions, and has been confirmed by the U.N.'s global panel of climate scientists (IPCC).

On average globally, a heatwave that would have occurred once in 10 years in the pre-industrial climate will now occur 2.8 times over 10 years, and it will be 1.2 C warmer, according to an international team of scientists with the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group.

CLIMATE CHANGE DRIVES WILDFIRES

Wildfires are among the many disasters that climate change is making more frequent and severe. Dozens of people died in the wildfires across Los Angeles in January 2025. The blazes reduced whole neighborhoods to smoldering ruins, leaving an apocalyptic landscape. Officials said at least 12,300 structures were damaged or destroyed.

Climate change increases hot and dry conditions that help fires spread faster, burn longer and rage more intensely.

Hotter weather also saps moisture from vegetation.

"That just means that this vegetation becomes easier to ignite, easier, easy to burn. And that basically makes it easier for wildfires to spread," said Erich Fischer, a climate scientist at ETH Zurich.

Forest management and ignition sources are also important factors. In Europe, more than nine out of 10 fires are ignited by human activities, like arson, disposable barbeques, electricity lines, or littered glass, according to EU data.

WORSENING STORMS AND RAINFALL

Climate change is worsening storms and torrential rainfall, because a hotter atmosphere can hold more water, leading to intense downpours. Atmospheric water vapour reached a record high in 2024, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it was the third-wettest year on record.

Six typhoons hit the Philippines in 30 days in 2024, a record-breaking storm season in the Pacific Ocean according to World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global team of scientists that examines the role played by climate change in extreme weather.

'Dangerous new era': climate change spurs disaster in 2024

The likelihood of compounding events like this series of typhoons, or hurricanes Helene and Milton that hit the United States back-to-back in late September and October, will increase with global warming, according to WWA.

Scientists concur that without steep cuts to the greenhouse gases causing climate change, heatwaves, wildfires, flooding and drought will significantly worsen.

(Production: Millie McCaughan)