Climate change has brought record-breaking heat this year, and with it extreme weather, from hurricanes to month-long droughts. This year is expected to be the hottest on record, and new research shows that people around the world experienced an additional 41 days of dangerous heat due to climate change.
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 caused unrelenting suffering.
Extreme weather events affected the lives of billions of people in 2024. From Brazil to Indonesia, the heatwave brought record-breaking temperatures and droughts. In the Amazon region, a regional heatwave was made worse by a natural climate phenomenon called El Niño, but the researchers at the WWA and Climate Central said that climate change remained the driving force.
Even the richest nations were not able to fully protect themselves from extreme weather this year. The US experienced two back-to-back hurricanes – first Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton – which left more than 260 dead and $115bn (£92bn) worth of damage, according to research from Christian Aid.
Flooding in Sudan and Nigeria in August and September showed that extreme weather can be exacerbated by poorly maintained infrastructure. Heavy rains starting in July brought extensive flooding which led to several dam collapses killing dozens of people and forcing thousands from their homes.
Researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group at Imperial College and Climate Central said the study shows “we are living in a dangerous new era”. From Brazil to Indonesia we take a look back at the climate events that affected the lives of billions in 2024.
The report from WWA and Climate Central estimates these heavy rainfall episodes have become common events due to human-caused warming, and are expected to occur on average every three to 10 years.
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