Global warming entails more intense precipitation, more and longer heat waves and fewer extremely cold days and nights. In many regions we can observe increasing summer dryness. Severe droughts entail extreme wildfires, which in turn release huge amounts of carbon stored in forest grounds.
Long and severe droughts are in many cases interrupted by extreme precipitation and floods. Flood damage has increased substantially the last decades
The physics behind is fairly easy: a warmer global climate means a warmer troposphere. A warmer troposphere means more evaporation from land and sea. The warmer air can hold more water vapor before it condenses to rain.
Warmer troposphere and oceans in polar regions lead to more icebergs floating around but also polar sea ice cover melting combined with more precipitation usually in the form of snow; and more open seas for longer periods. This disturbs cloud patterns, jetstreams and the polar vortex with its circumpolar winds, in turn impacting on weather patterns in the temperate and polar zones. Polar Vortex: How the Jet Stream and Climate Change Bring on Cold Snaps
Low-lying coastal zones are particularly vulnerable through sea-level rise and changes in wave climate and stronger storms.
Studies suggest higher precipitation intensity for Northern Europe and increased dry-spell lengths for Southern Europe. High intensity and extreme precipitation are expected to become more frequent within the next 70 years. (Norwegian Meteorological Institute (2013) Extreme Weather Events in Europe: preparing for climate change adaptation)

More precipitation

It is important to remember that global warming means more evaporation from the oceans to the air. More moisture in the air means more precipitation. As long as the temperature remains below 0 ° C, this precipitation will be coming as snow. In North Western Europe and the North East of the USA, this means global warming causes more rain and more heavy, wet, potentially very damaging snowfalls, but gradually shorter winters.
Periods of heavy snow must be expected in the Nordic countries and parts of North America for several years ahead. The winter periods will become more erratic, with unusual mild periods in between cold periods. There will be more warm records than cold records. More icy roads for longer periods are likely.
Events
Heatwaves, droughts, mudslides
- Astonishing Heat Grips India and Pakistan (2022)
- Record Heat Bakes Drought-Stricken West (2021)
- Extreme heat hurts human health. Its effects must be mitigated – urgently (2021)
- Europe’s record summer ‘impossible’ without global heating (2021)
- Western Drought Has Lasted Longer Than the Dust Bowl Dry conditions have drawn down reservoirs, fueled massive wildfires and stunted crops (2021)
- ‘No One Is Safe’: Extreme Weather Batters the Wealthy World (2021)
- Is Western U.S. experiencing a ‘megadrought’? (2021)
- Anthropogenically-driven increases in the risks of summertime compound hot extremes (2020)
- March of the Cyclones: 6 Named Storms, 5 More Areas to Watch (2019)
- 6 Dead in Worst Storm to Drench Eastern Spain in 140 Years (2019)
- Midwestern Scientists Warn of ‘Sobering Extreme Heat’
- Two Dead, Hundreds Evacuated as ‘Historic’ Flooding Swamps Midwest (2019)
- At Least 150 Dead, 1.5 Million Impacted as Cyclone Idai Slams Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe (2019)
- Climate change is driving wildfires, and not just in California (2019)
- Heatwaves made more than twice as likely by climate change, scientists find (July 2018)
- Thousands Flee as 19 Wildfires Burn in Southeast Australia (2019)
- Unsurvivable heatwaves could strike heart of China by end of century (Aug 2018)
- Record 70,000 people rushed to hospitals since April 30 amid scorching Japan heat wave (Aug 2018)
- Heat Waves Creeping Toward a Deadly Heat-Humidity Threshold (Aug 2017)
- Deadly ‘Lucifer’ heat wave keeps grip on 10 European countries (Aug 2017)
- Put politics aside to fight hunger (Jan 2017)
- Typhoons, Floods, Heat Waves Batter Asia (July 2018)
- India records its hottest day ever as temperature hits 51C (that’s 123.8F) (May 2016)
- Heat waves in Africa every year from 2040?
- Record-Breaking Heat Wave Scorches Southwest (June 2016)
- USA swelters through hottest summer nights in 121 years (Sept 2016)
- India drought: ‘330 million people affected’ (BBC, April 2016)
- Deadly heat wave is shattering all-time records in Southeast Asia and India (May 2016)
- Brutal Heat Waves Crush Eastern Australia (Jan 2017)
- New Evidence Confirms Risk That Mideast May Become Uninhabitable (March 2017)
- Temperatures in the Southwest Are So Hot Airlines Are Canceling Flights
Heat waves caused by climate change are growing hotter and deadlier (June 2017) - Record-Melting Fall Heat Wave Bakes Southern California (Oct 2017)
- Humidity Is the Real Heatwave Threat
- Scorching Heat Melts Highway in Australia. Extreme weather is blasting opposite ends of the globe (Jan 2018)
- East Coast Shatters Temperature Records, Offering Preview to a Warming World (Feb 2018)
- Boulder Sues Exxon Over Climate Change: Wildfires, Droughts and Water Are a Few Reasons Why (April, 2018)
- How climate change affects California (May 2018)
- How climate change affects Germany (2018)
- How climate change affects Mexico (2018)
- Red-hot planet: All-time heat records have been set all over the world during the past week (July 2018)
- Royal Society: How does climate change affect the strength and frequency of floods, droughts, hurricanes, and tornadoes?
- Ecowatch (2016) 10 Extreme Weather Events in 2015 That Sound the Alarm on Climate Chaos
- Ecowatch (2016) Scientists Link Extreme Weather to Climate Change.
- The intensity, frequency, and duration of North Atlantic hurricanes, as well as the frequency of the strongest hurricanes, have all increased since the early 1980s. Hurricane intensity and rainfall are projected to increase as the climate continues to warm.
Wildfires
- ‘Avalanche of fires’: what the front pages around the world say (2022)
- Today’s Wildfires Are Taking Us into Uncharted Territory (2021)
- Is Western U.S. experiencing a ‘megadrought’? (2021)
- Michael Mann: Australia, Your Country Is Burning – Dangerous Climate Change Is Here With You Now (2020)
- How climate change influenced Australia’s unprecedented fires. The climate factors contributing to Australia’s bushfires are strikingly similar to those at play in California. (2020)
- The common language of loss
- How Climate Change Ignites Wildfires From California to South Africa (May 2018)
- 82,000 Evacuated as ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Wildfire Shocks California (Aug 2016)
- En trente ans, le réchauffement climatique a doublé les feux de forêt aux Etats-Unis
- Western USA faces an explosion of wildfires. There is a “ brazen deception of the oil lobby and their Trump-inspired allies who deny science and fight every reasonable effort to curb global warming” (Jerry Brown, California’s governor, Sep 2016).
- Wildfires are a climate change wake-up call (Aug 2017)
- Wildfire in LA Burns 7,000 Acres During Record-Setting Heat Wave (Sept 2017)
- Potent Mix of Record Heat and Dryness Fuels Wildfires Across the West.”These unprecedented extreme events are exactly the types of events that are more likely due to the global warming that’s already occurred.” (Sept 2017)
- Oregon wildfire ravages picturesque gorge, ash chokes communities (Sept 2017)
- California Fires: Record Hot Summer, Wet Winter Created Explosive Mix (Oct 2017)
- Victims of California Mudslides Were Swept Away Weeks After Surviving Fires (Jan 2018)
- Wildfires Rage Through Portugal and Spain, Kill at Least 39 (Oct 2017)
- Wildfires to Hurricanes, 2017’s Year of Disasters Carried Climate Warnings (Dec 2017)
- 4 Questions on the California Fires and Climate Change (Dec 2017)
- How California’s Fires Are Linked to Climate Chaos, Soil Health and Food Choices
Throughout history, agriculture has caused the loss of fertile soil, leading to the downfall of civilizations. (Jan 2018) - Wildfires rage in Arctic Circle as Sweden calls for help (July 2018)
- New Scientist (2016) Canada’s huge wildfires may release carbon locked in permafrost
- NYT (2016) Global Warming Cited as Wildfires Increase in Fragile Boreal Forest
Droughts
- European Drought Observatory
- GAR Special Report on Drought 2021
- NASA: Megadrought Lasting Decades Is 99% Certain in American Southwest
- Climate change and droughts: What’s the connection?
- Record-Breaking Drought and Wildfires Plaque Southeast (Nov 2016)
- Bolivia declares state of emergency due to drought, water shortage (Nov 2016)
- This Country (Bolivia) Is Running Out of Water Amid Historic Drought (Nov 2016)
- Madagascar drought: catastrophe looms as 850,000 go hungry, says UN (Nov 2016)
- U.N. warns of famine risk in Somalia amid worsening drought (Jan 2017)
- ‘Irreversible’ Climate Change Rocks Australia: Report. This should serve as a warning to other nations, particularly ones that rely on energy derived from coal. (March 2017)
- Climate Change Making Kenya’s Droughts More Severe (March 2017)
- Hot, Dry and Worrisome: 2016 Was a Record-Breaking Year for Climate (Aug 2017)
- A wet, hot future (Cicero Aug 2017)
- Climate Change Is Making This Bolivian Village a Ghost Town (Aug 2017)
- 6 Questions on Hurricane Irma, Harvey and Climate Change (Sept 2017)
- Scientists Issue Dire Warning if the Goals of the Paris Climate Accord Go Unmet
As much as 25 percent of the planet could face permanent drought. (Jan 2018) - Scientists can now quickly link extreme weather events to climate change (Jan 2018)
Floods
- How bad is the Northwest flooding and what caused it? (2021)
- ‘Like a bomb went off’: survivors of Germany’s worst floods in 200 years relive their agony (2021)
- Climate crisis blamed for rains and floods that have killed 150 in Brazil. Data seen by the Guardian shows ‘extreme rainfall events’ have soared over past 30 years (2020)
- Climate Change Is Already Making Hurricanes Wetter, Study Confirms (2018)
- Kerala continues to reel under floods, colossal damage to Tourism and plantations (Aug 2018)
- Historic Floods in Southern Indian State Kill 39, Displace More Than 60,000 (Aug 2018)
- A Hawaiian island got about 50 inches of rain in 24 hours. Scientists warn it’s a sign of the future (April 2018)
- Deadly floods devastate parts of East Africa (May 2018)
- Hurricane Harvey: The Devastation and What Comes Next (NYT 2017)
- Storm Angus floodwater inundates homes in Manchester – video report (Nov 2016)
- Texas flooding kills woman, 4 grandchildren (May 2016)
- Kenya flooding: At least 10 dead in building collapse (BBC, May 2016)
- Sri Lanka – Deadly Floods and Landslides After 355mm of Rain in 24 Hours (May 2016)
- Historic Flooding Ongoing as Houston Records Its Rainiest Day Ever—Before Noon (April 2016)
- France floods: third person dies as river levels begin to fall (June 2016)
- Flooding Kills Dozens In Europe And Texas, Displaces Thousands More
- Record-breaking heavy rainfall events increased under global warming (June 2016)
- Climate-change related flooding is projected to double in Europe by 2050.(June 2016)
- Floodlist (Worldwide)
- In Australia, Flooding Is Already on the Rise
- World weather: 2016’s early record heat gives way to heavy rains (Aug 2016)
- Deadly Maryland flood part of clear global warming-related pattern in extreme rainfall events (Aug 2016)
- Intense Louisiana Rains Another Example of What’s in Store With Global Warming (Aug 2016)
- NOAA: Climate Change Fueled Deadly Louisiana Flooding (Sept 2016)
- Flooding in the South Looks a Lot Like Climate Change (NYT, Aug 2016)
- Welcome to Carlisle, the British City With a Climate Change Bull’s-Eye (NYT Sept 2016)
- Climate: Africa’s Human Existence Is at Severe Risk
- Climate Change Dries Up Nicaragua
- Climate Change (I) Will the Middle East Become ‘Uninhabitable’?
- Climate Change Could Make Parts of Middle East and North Africa ‘Uninhabitable’
- Climate Change and the Middle East (II) No Water in the Kingdom of the Two Seas—Nor Elsewhere
- Flooding hits central Vietnam ahead of Typhoon Sarika (Oct 2016)
- Vietnam – Deadly Floods Strike Central Region for Third Time in 8 Weeks (Dec 2016)
- Climate Change Is Raising Flood Risk in the Northern U.S. Shifting rainfall patterns and the amount of water in the ground are likely causes for the heightened risk (Scientific American, Jan 2017)
- Yes, Some Extreme Weather Can Be Blamed on Climate Change A leading scientist explains that improved computing and statistics can tie extreme events to global warming (Scientific American, Jan 2017)
- ‘Exceptional’ number of severe floods propel natural disasters losses to four-year high (Jan 2017)
- Climate Change is a subject that concerns us all (Munich re)
- Natural catastrophe losses at their highest for four years (Munich re Jan 2017)
- San Francisco Receives More Rain in First Eight Days of January Than All of 2013 (Jan 2017)
- Death toll from landslides and floods rises to 122 (Sri Lanka, May 2017)
- The day after withdrawing from Paris, Trump declared a flooding disaster in Missouri (June 2017)
- In Houston, Anxiety and Frantic Rescues as Floodwaters Rise (Aug 2017)
- ‘Unprecedented,’ Historic Storm Dumps Trillions of Tons of Water on Texas (Aug 2017)
- Did Climate Change Intensify Hurricane Harvey?
- Sierra Leone mudslide and flood leaves more than 1,000 people dead, local leaders say (Aug 2017)
- South Asia floods kill 1,200 and shut 1.8 million children out of school (Aug 2017)
- Why are the crucial questions about Hurricane Harvey not being asked?
- Intensity of Harvey’s Devastation Linked to Warming
- Floodwaters Inundate Beaumont as Houston Assesses Damage (NYT Sept 2017)
- The link between hurricanes and climate change: Extra moisture, hot water, and higher sea levels make hurricanes even more dangerous
- 1,200 Dead, 41 Million Affected by Flooding in India, Bangladesh and Nepal (Aug 2017)
- Ex-NASA Scientist James Hansen: There is a Clear Link Between Climate Change & Stronger Hurricanes (Aug 2017)
- The Climate Catastrophe We’re All Ignoring
- Storflom på Sørlandet (Oct 2017)
- Once-Rare Flooding Could Hit NYC Every 5 Years with Climate Change, Study Warns (Oct 2017)
- Climate change ‘will push European cities towards breaking point’. Study highlights urgent need to adapt urban areas to cope with floods, droughts and heatwaves (Feb 2018)
- Nature (2016) Global warming already driving increases in rainfall extremes
- Climate Central (2016) Warming Brings Increasing Flood Risk And Heavier Rain
Desertification
- New York Times (2016). Living in China´s Expanding Deserts
- Feng, Q. et al. (2015). What Has Caused Desertification in China?
- Luedi, J. (2016). China’s growing deserts a major political risk. Global Risk Insights,
- Tao, W. (2016). Desertification and Land Degradation in China. International Soil and Water Conservation Research
- The Telegraph. (2014). ‘Water war’ in Brazil as Rio’s supply threatened
- Conflict on the Nile
Storms
- Hurricanes and Climate Change
- In 2020, Record-Breaking Hurricanes Arrived Early—and Often So far this season, 25 of 28 storms have been the earliest on record (Scientific American, 2020)
- Most Destructive Hurricanes Now 3x More Frequent Than They Were a Century Ago (2019)
- The most intense hurricanes are already occurring more often
- Ocean heat as ‘fuel’ for hurricanes. Researchers track the source of energy of the 2017 Hurricane Harvey that punished parts of Texas … right to the record-high Gulf of Mexico temperature. (May 2018)
- ‘Stalled’ hurricanes like Dorian could become more common. In a warming climate, hurricanes could linger longer, causing extreme rainfall and wind damage. (2019)
- Battered by Storms, Sri Lanka Rethinks Food Security (June 2016)
- Photos: Typhoon Meranti leaves a trail of destruction in Taiwan and makes landfall on mainland China (Sept 2016)
- Warmed Oceans Fuel Massive Hurricane Matthew as It Bears Down on Florida After Flattening Parts of Haiti and Cuba (Oct 2016)
- Why We Love Storms. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense. For some, that’s just fine.
- Siberian air Will Blow to U.S. as Polar Vortex Breaks Down & Jet Stream Crosses North Pole (Dec 2016)
- Does global warming mean more or less snow?
- Millions Under Blizzard Warning: Is It Climate Connected? (March 2017)
- What’s the Connection Between Climate Change and Hurricane Harvey? (Aug 2017)
- Why Houston isn’t the only U.S. community ripe for disaster (Science Aug 2017)
- Floods, Hurricanes, Droughts… When Climate Sets the Agenda (Sept 2017)
- Hurricane Maria Devastates Puerto Rico (Sept 2017)
- Puerto Rico Faces ‘Apocalyptic’ Conditions: Humanitarian Crisis Grows for 3.4 Million U.S. Citizens (Sept 2017)
- Will Puerto Rico Require Substantial Debt Forgiveness? (Oct 2017)
- Fleeing the Coast Before the Storm, Only to Be Trapped Inland (NYT Oct 2016)
- Hurricane Matthew’s Toll Rises; Flooding Strands 1,500 in North Carolina (NYT Oct 2016)
- Rome Blanketed by Snow as Arctic Storm Sets Seasonal Records (Feb 2018)
- How a warming Arctic may drive East Coast cold. We’re on a jet stream rollercoaster (2018)
Increasing temperatures and risks
- Royal Society Resilience to extreme weather
- Are weather patterns changing because the Arctic is becoming warmer? (Munich re 2015)
- Hansen, J. (2016) Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms Video Abstract
- Hansen, J. (2016) Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms: The Threat of Irreparable Harm – Transcript
- Climate Change + Population Growth + Economic Expansion = More Severe Flooding
- NASA: Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET)
- We are living in the planet’s most unusually warm period in modern history (May 2016)
- Dietz, S. & Stern, M. (2014) Endogenous growth, convexity of damages and climate risk (Grantham work paper)
- Soaring Temperatures Will Make It Too Hot to Work, UN Warns (July 2016) (Bloomberg)
- National Academic Press (2016) Attribution of Extreme Weather Events in the Context of Climate Change (Downloadable book)
- Climate change is triple risk to Europe (Aug 2017)
- Extreme weather events (and the costs) are piling up. When you tally it all up, the costs are likely to end up at three quarters of a trillion dollars or more. And that’s just for this decade.
- Global Warming Is Messing with the Jet Stream. That Means More Extreme Weather.
- Munich re: NAT CATS 2014: What’s going on with the weather?
- Does global warming mean more or less snow?
- American Meteorological Society (2016) Explaining Extreme Events from a Climate Perspective
- Extreme weather events on the rise, European scientists warn (2018)
- Norge fra 1900 til i dag -Vær og klima i Norge har variert stort i gjennom historien
- Making sense of future climate (CICERO, Jan 2017)
- Drastic cooling in North Atlantic beyond worst fears, scientists warn (Feb 2017)
- The Science Linking Arctic Warming to This Crazy-Cold Winter (MIT, 2018)
- ‘Crazy, Crazy Stuff’: Arctic Winter Warmest on Record. The Arctic just experienced its warmest winter on record, scientists say. In the dead of winter, temperatures at the North Pole approached the melting point, (March 2018)
- 2017 Weather and Climate Disasters Cost U.S. Record $306 Billion. 2017 was the third warmest year since record-keeping began in 1895 (Jan 2018)
Insurance
- At $4.9 billion, 2016 broke record for damage caused by natural disasters, insurers report
Record set for insurable damage caused by natural disasters such as wildfires, floods and ice storms, Insurance Bureau of Canada says (Jan 2017). - Munich re: NAT CATS 2014: What’s going on with the weather?
- Swiss Re adopts climate-related financial disclosure recommendations (Dec 2016)
- Swiss re: Preliminary sigma estimates: Total losses from disaster events rise to USD 158 billion in 2016 (Dec 2016)
- 2016: Natural catastrophe losses at their highest for four years (Munich re Jan 2017)
NASA: Quiz weather extremes
Next
Home | Chapter 3 | 3. Impacts |
3.1 More water vapor | ||
3.2 Sea level rise | ||
3.3 Polar sea ice | ||
3.4 Air pollution | ||
3.5 Acidification | ||
3.6 Health | ||
3.7 Extreme weather | ||
3.8 Economy | ||
3.9 Refugees and conflicts | ||
3.10 Glaciers | ||
3.11 Tipping points | ||
3.12 Biodiversity | ||
3.13 Water | ||
Chapter 4 | 4. Ecosystems |