Latest news with #WWA
Euronews
6 days ago
- Science
- Euronews
Climate change drove heat extremes in 195 countries last year
Human-caused climate change added an average of 30 days of extreme heat for about half of the world's population over the past year, according to a new study. That amounts to four billion people exposed to prolonged, dangerous temperatures. And the findings single out fossil fuel emissions as the cause of the blistering heat. The study, published ahead of Heat Action Day on 2 June, comes from a collaborative attribution analysis by World Weather Attribution, Climate Central and the Red Cross Red Cross Climate Centre. Researchers examined temperature data from 247 countries and territories between May 2024 and May 2025 and found that, in 195 of them, climate change at least doubled the number of days classified as 'extreme heat.' 'This study needs to be taken as another stark warning. Climate change is here, and it kills,' says Dr Friederike Otto of Imperial College London and World Weather Attribution (WWA). To understand the influence of climate change, scientists first defined 'extreme heat' as days when temperatures exceeded the 90th percentile of the averages between 1991 and 2020. In other words, the hottest 10 per cent of days during that period. Then they tallied how many such days occurred in each country between May 2024 and May 2025. Next, they used climate models to simulate a world without human-induced warming. By comparing both sets of data, they were able to quantify just how many additional extreme heat days could be attributed directly to climate change. The difference was staggering. In many parts of the world, global warming didn't just increase temperatures. It made once-rare heatwaves a near-daily occurrence. Aruba, for example, suffered 187 days of extreme heat in the past year. Without climate change, the island's population would have endured just 45 such days. Researchers identified 67 extreme heat events globally last year. They focused on four: Central Asia in March 2025, South Sudan in February 2025, Mexico, the US and Central America in June 2024 and the Mediterranean in July 2024. In every case, they found that climate change made the back-breaking heat more likely or more severe. 'Climate change is clearly challenging life on every continent,' says Dr Mariam Zachariah, a WWA researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London. 'These frequent, intense spells of hot temperatures are associated with a huge range of impacts, including heat illness, deaths, pressure on health systems, crop losses, lowered productivity and transport disruptions,' she adds. Europe is among the regions already suffering the most visible and deadly consequences of human-induced climate change. Last summer, wildfires and heatwaves swept through southern Europe. Scientists warned that climate change made them three times more likely. Greece endured deadly Juneheatwaves triggered by climate change that strained hospitals and caused mass evacuations from tourist destinations. Over the past two summers, extreme heat has led authorities to close the Acropolis – the country's most-visited site, attracting millions each year – during the hottest hours of the day. In July,southeastern Europe experienced its longest heatwave on record, lasting 13 consecutive days and affecting 55 per cent of the region. Prolonged heat in Spain, France and Italy caused transport disruptions, strained power grids and forced schools to shut early. In total, the record-breaking heat is thought to have killed more than47,000 people in Europe in 2024. The outlook continues to be grim, too. Climate experts project23 million additional temperature-related deaths in Europe by 2099 if warming continues unchecked. 'The evidence for the link between climate change and heatwaves is undeniable,' says Roop Singh, head of urban and attribution at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. 'Through our interactions, we know that people are feeling the rise in heat, but they don't always understand that it's being driven by climate change, and that it will continue to get much, much worse.' Despite the mounting pressure it places on global populations, heat remains one of the most underappreciated consequences of the climate crisis. Climate change was found to have caused41 additional days of dangerous heat in 2024, unleashing what researchers called 'unrelenting suffering' across the globe. That suffering isn't always exposure to extreme heat has been linked to accelerated ageing and damage at the cellular level. For the next generation, the picture is even more alarming. A recent study estimated that83 per cent of five-year-olds will live through far more frequent and intense heatwaves than any previous generation. 'There is no place on Earth untouched by climate change – and heat is its most deadly consequence,' said Dr Kristina Dahl, vice president for science at Climate Central. 'We have the science to quantify how fossil fuel emissions are reshaping our daily temperatures – and putting billions at risk.' The landslide that buried most of a Swiss village this week is focusing renewed attention on the role of global warming in glacier collapses around the world and the increasing dangers. How glaciers collapse - from the Alps and Andes to the Himalayas and Antarctica - can differ, scientists say. But in almost every instance, climate change is playing a role. In Switzerland, the mountainside gave way Wednesday near the village of Blatten, in the southern Lötschental valley, because the rock face above the Birch Glacier had become unstable when mountain permafrost melted, causing debris to fall and cover the glacier in recent years, said Martin Truffer, a physics professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who studies how glaciers move. While the debris insulated the glacier and slowed melting, its weight caused the ice to begin moving - which accelerated dramatically a few weeks ago. Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock, from the village in recent days, 'when it became clear that there's a whole mountainside that's about to collapse,' said Truffer, who is from Switzerland. Lakes that form at the base of glaciers as they melt and retreat also sometimes burst, often with catastrophic results. Water can even lift an entire glacier, allowing it to drain, said Truffer, adding that Alaska's capital of Juneau has flooded in recent years because a lake forms every year on a rapidly retreating glacier and eventually bursts. In 2022, an apartment building-sized chunk of the Marmolada glacier in Italy's Dolomite mountains detached during a summer heat wave, sending an avalanche of debris down the popular summer hiking destination, killing 11. A glacier in Tibet's Aru mountain range suddenly collapsed in 2016, killing nine people and their livestock, followed a few months later by the collapse of another glacier. There also have been collapses in Peru, including one in 2006 that caused a mini tsunami; most recently, a glacial lagoon overflowed in April, triggering a landslide that killed two. 'It's amazing sometimes how rapidly they can collapse,' said Lonnie Thompson, a glacier expert at the Ohio State University. 'The instability of these glaciers is a real and growing problem, and there are thousands and thousands of people that are at risk.' Scientists say melting glaciers will raise sea levels for decades, but the loss of inland glaciers also acutely affects those living nearby who rely on them for water for drinking water and agriculture. Scientists say greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal have already locked in enough global warming to doom many of the world's glaciers - which already have retreated significantly. For example, glaciers in the Alps have lost 50 per cent of their area since 1950, and the rate at which ice is being lost has been accelerating, with 'projections ... that all the glaciers in the Alps could be gone in this century,' Thompson said. Switzerland, which has the most glaciers of any country in Europe, saw 4 per cent of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023, the second-biggest decline in a single year after a 6 per cent drop in 2022. A 2023 study found that Peru has lost more than half of its glacier surface in the last six decades, and 175 glaciers disappeared due to climate change between 2016 and 2020, mostly due to the increase in the average global temperature. A study published Thursday in Science said that even if global temperatures stabilized at their current level, 40 per cent of the world's glaciers still would be lost. But if warming were limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius - the long-term warming limit since the late 1800s called for by the 2015 Paris climate agreement - twice as much glacier ice could be preserved than would be otherwise. Even so, many areas will become ice-free no matter what, Truffer, the University of Alaska expert. 'There's places in Alaska where we've shown that it doesn't take any more global warming,' for them to disappear, Truffer said. 'The reason some ... (still) exist is simply because it takes a certain amount of time for them to melt. But the climate is already such that they're screwed.'
The Sun
7 days ago
- Science
- The Sun
Climate change adds an extra month of extreme heat for 4 billion people: Report
ISTANBUL: Human-driven climate change added an average of 30 extra days of extreme heat over the past year for nearly half of the world's population, according to a new report released Friday ahead of Heat Action Day on June 2. The study, conducted by scientists from World Weather Attribution (WWA), Climate Central, and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, emphasises the growing risks posed by heat waves as global fossil fuel use continues, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported. Between May 2024 and May 2025, some four billion people, about half of the global population, faced at least 30 additional days of extreme heat, defined as temperatures hotter than 90 per cent of historical observations for their regions, compared to a world without climate change. The researchers also found that climate change increased the number of extreme heat days by at least twofold in 195 countries and territories. All 67 major heat events recorded in the last year were exacerbated by human-caused climate change. 'This study needs to be taken as another stark warning. Climate change is here, and it kills,' said Friederike Otto, co-lead of WWA and senior lecturer at Imperial College London. 'We know exactly how to stop heat waves from getting worse: restructure our energy systems to be more efficient and based on renewables, not fossil fuels.' Mariam Zachariah, a researcher at Imperial College London, described the results as 'staggering,' noting that frequent, intense heat spells are linked to widespread impacts, including heat illnesses, deaths, crop losses, lowered productivity, and transport disruptions. Roop Singh, head of Urban and Attribution at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, emphasised the urgent need to scale up responses. 'We need better early warning systems, heat action plans, and long-term urban planning to meet the rising challenge,' Singh said. Vice President for Science at Climate Central Kristina Dahl stressed that heat is the deadliest consequence of climate change. 'There is no place on Earth untouched by climate change, and we have the science to quantify how fossil fuel emissions are reshaping our daily temperatures and putting billions at risk,' she said. The report calls for governments to strengthen heat action plans, increase monitoring and reporting of heat impacts, and prioritise long-term adaptation strategies.
The Sun
7 days ago
- Science
- The Sun
Climate change added 30 days of extreme heat globally
ISTANBUL: Human-driven climate change added an average of 30 extra days of extreme heat over the past year for nearly half of the world's population, according to a new report released Friday ahead of Heat Action Day on June 2. The study, conducted by scientists from World Weather Attribution (WWA), Climate Central, and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, emphasises the growing risks posed by heat waves as global fossil fuel use continues, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported. Between May 2024 and May 2025, some four billion people, about half of the global population, faced at least 30 additional days of extreme heat, defined as temperatures hotter than 90 per cent of historical observations for their regions, compared to a world without climate change. The researchers also found that climate change increased the number of extreme heat days by at least twofold in 195 countries and territories. All 67 major heat events recorded in the last year were exacerbated by human-caused climate change. 'This study needs to be taken as another stark warning. Climate change is here, and it kills,' said Friederike Otto, co-lead of WWA and senior lecturer at Imperial College London. 'We know exactly how to stop heat waves from getting worse: restructure our energy systems to be more efficient and based on renewables, not fossil fuels.' Mariam Zachariah, a researcher at Imperial College London, described the results as 'staggering,' noting that frequent, intense heat spells are linked to widespread impacts, including heat illnesses, deaths, crop losses, lowered productivity, and transport disruptions. Roop Singh, head of Urban and Attribution at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, emphasised the urgent need to scale up responses. 'We need better early warning systems, heat action plans, and long-term urban planning to meet the rising challenge,' Singh said. Vice President for Science at Climate Central Kristina Dahl stressed that heat is the deadliest consequence of climate change. 'There is no place on Earth untouched by climate change, and we have the science to quantify how fossil fuel emissions are reshaping our daily temperatures and putting billions at risk,' she said. The report calls for governments to strengthen heat action plans, increase monitoring and reporting of heat impacts, and prioritise long-term adaptation strategies.
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Climate
- Time of India
Deadly April rainfall in US South, Midwest was intensified by climate change, scientists say
Two churches, one Catholic and one Baptist are flooded by the Kentucky River (Image: AP) Human-caused climate change intensified deadly rainfall in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and other states in early April and made those storms more likely to occur, according to an analysis released Thursday by the World Weather Attribution group of scientists. The series of storms unleashed tornadoes , strong winds and extreme rainfall in the central Mississippi Valley region from April 3-6 and caused at least 24 deaths. Homes, roads and vehicles were inundated and 15 deaths were likely caused by catastrophic floods. The WWA analysis found that climate change increased rainfall intensity in the storms by 9 per cent and made them 40 per cent more likely compared to probability of such events in the pre-industrial age climate. Some of the moisture that fuelled the storms came from the Gulf of Mexico , where water temperatures were abnormally warm by 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial temperatures. That warming was made 14 times more likely due to climate change, according to the researchers from universities and meteorological agencies in the United States and Europe. Rapid analyses from the WWA use peer-reviewed methods to study an extreme weather event and distill it down to the factors that caused it. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Google Brain Co-Founder Andrew Ng, Recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo This approach lets scientists analyse which contributing factors had the biggest influence and how the event could have played out in a world without climate change. The analysis found a rainfall event of April's intensity could occur in the central Mississippi Valley region about once every 100 years. Even heavier downpours are expected to hit the region in the future unless the world rapidly slashes emissions of polluting gases such as carbon dioxide and methane that causes temperatures to rise, the study said. "That one in 100 years ... is likely to go down to once every few decades," said Ben Clarke, a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London and the study's lead author. "If we continue to burn fossil fuels, events like this will not only continue to occur, but they'll keep getting more dangerous." Heavier and more persistent rainfall is expected with climate change because the atmosphere holds more moisture as it warms. Warming ocean temperatures result in higher evaporation rates, which means more moisture is available to fuel storms. Forecast information and weather alerts from the National Weather Service communicated the risks of the April heavy rain days in advance, which the WWA says likely reduced the death toll. But workforce and budget cuts made by the Trump administration have left nearly half of NWS offices with 20 per cent vacancy rates or higher, raising concerns for public safety during future extreme weather events and the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season that officially begins June 1. "If we start cutting back on these offices or reducing the staff, the unfortunate result is going to be more death. We're going to have more people dying because the warnings are not going to get out, the warnings are not going to be as fine-tuned as they are today," said Randall Cerveny, a climate professor at Arizona State University who was not involved in the study.
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Climate
- Time of India
Climate change made fire conditions twice as likely in South Korea blazes: Study
Climate change made fire conditions twice as likely in South Korea blazes: Study (Photo: AP) Human-induced climate change made the ultra-dry and warm conditions that fanned South Korea's deadliest wildfires in history this March twice as likely and more intense, researchers said Thursday. Vast swaths of the country's southeast were burned in a series of blazes in March, which killed 31 people and destroyed historic sites, including a some thousand-year-old temple site. The affected area had been experiencing below-average rainfall for months and was then hit by strong winds, local officials said, following South Korea's hottest year on record in 2024. The hot, dry and windy conditions that fed the flames were "twice as likely and about 15 percent more intense" due to human-caused climate change, said World Weather Attribution, a scientific network that studies the influence of global warming on extreme weather. "South Korea's deadliest wildfires were made much more likely by climate change," said Clair Barnes, a WWA researcher from the centre for environmental policy , Imperial College London. Officials said at the time that the conditions made it very hard for conventional firefighting methods to control the blazes, which leapt from pine tree to pine tree across dried-out hillsides. "These unprecedented conditions exposed the limits of even well-developed suppression systems," WWA said in a report of its findings. "With fires increasingly likely to exceed control capacity, the emphasis must shift toward proactive risk reduction," it added. More than 62 percent of South Korea is covered in forest, the report said, with dense tree cover especially prominent along the eastern coast and in mountainous regions, landscapes that significantly influence how wildfires spread. Around 11 percent of South Korea's forested areas border human settlements, the study said. "These areas are particularly susceptible to ignition and have accounted for nearly 30 percent of wildfires recorded between 2016 and 2022." The researchers' findings were most conclusive regarding the increased likelihood of fire weather, which is measured by the Hot-Dry-Windy Index (HDWI) and higher maximum temperatures. But they found no attributable link between climate change and rainfall levels during the period surrounding the fires. Fires rage South Korea has few energy resources of its own and relies on imported coal, a cheap but dirty fuel for around a third of the electricity powering it, according to figures from the International energy agency. The inferno in March also laid bare the country's demographic crisis and regional disparities, as rural areas are both underpopulated and disproportionately home to senior citizens. Many of the dead were seniors, and experts have warned that it will be hard for people to rebuild their lives in the burn zone. In the weeks and months since, South Korea has recorded a string of wildfires. In April, helicopters were deployed to contain a wildfire within the DMZ, the buffer zone separating the South from nuclear-armed North Korea. This week, more than 2,000 people were forced to evacuate after wildfires occurred in parts of the southeastern city of Daegu, after a blaze broke out on Mount Hamji in the region. WWA is a pioneer in attribution science, which uses peer-reviewed methods to quickly assess the possible influence of climate change on extreme weather events. This allows a comparison of observations from today's climate, with some 1.3 degrees Celsius of warming, against computer simulations that consider the climate before humanity started burning fossil fuels in the 1800s.
