Extreme weather events signal the start of a dangerous era

Weather and climate change was a huge talking point this year – the hottest year in history. It’s likely to remain on the agenda in 2025.

In a story we ran in Saturday Citizen, World Weather Attribution, experts on how global warming influences extreme events, said “nearly every disaster they analysed over the past 12 months was intensified by climate change”, from extreme heat leading to more than more than 1 300 deaths during the Muslim hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia to floods and cyclones wreaking havoc in other countries.

The United Arab Emirates in April received two years’ worth of rain in a single day, while Spain’s Valencia saw more than 200 people die during flooding in October.

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Major hurricanes smashed the United States and Caribbean, most notably Milton, Beryl and Helene, while in November alone, the Philippines endured six major storms – two months after suffering typhoon Yagi. France’s poorest overseas territory, Mayotte, is still reeling from cyclone Chino this month.

Climate scientist Friederike Otto said: “We are living in a dangerous new era.”

The World Food Programme said “26 million people across southern Africa were at risk of hunger as a months-long drought parched the impoverished region”.

Brace for a new dangerous era in 2025.