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From floods in Brazil and Houston, to brutal heat in Asia, extreme
weather events seem everywhere
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Open this photo in gallery:
Aerial view of a flooded area of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul
state, Brazil, taken on May 8.NELSON ALMEIDA/Getty Images
In sweltering Brazil, flooding killed dozens of people and paralyzed a
city of about four million people. Voters and politicians in India,
amid national elections, are fainting in heat that hit as high as 46.3
degrees Celsius.
A brutal Asian heat wave has closed schools in the Philippines, killed
people in Thailand and set records there and in Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Maldives and Myanmar. Record temperatures - especially at night
when it just won't cool down - have hit many parts of Africa. Flooding
devastated Houston, and the United States as a whole just had its
second highest number of tornadoes for the month of April.
In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the
last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental
extremes to a new level. Some climate scientists say they are hard
pressed to remember when so much of the world has had its weather on
overdrive at the same time.
"Given that we've seen an unprecedented jump in global warmth over the
last 11 months, it is not surprising to see worsening climate extremes
so early in the year," said University of Michigan environment dean
Jonathan Overpeck. "If this record pace of warming continues, 2024
will likely be a record year of climate disasters and human
suffering."
When the world is warmer, it is likely to have more extreme weather
and climate events, including record heat and rainfall, scientists
say. And climate change is also changing weather patterns, leading to
rainy and hot systems stalling over areas and the jet stream
meandering, said Álvaro Silva, a climate scientist at the World
Meteorological Organization.
Adding to the stronger effects of human-caused climate change is a
now-weakening El Nino - a natural warming of parts of the central
Pacific that changes weather worldwide - that came on the heels of a
three-year La Nina, its cool counterpart, Mr. Silva said.
Scientists also pointed to 13 straight months of record hot oceans as
a potential factor in the weather extremes.
This all comes as the world just finished its 11th record-breaking hot
month in a row, the European climate service Copernicus reported
Wednesday.
The average global temperature of 15 degrees Celsius in April beat the
old record from 2016 by 0.14 degrees Celsius. Copernicus's data set
goes back to 1950, while other climate monitoring agencies go back to
1850 but have yet to report April calculations.
Open this photo in gallery:
Channelview Fire Department and sheriffs get ready to help evacuate
the area due to severe flooding in Channelview, Texas, on May 4.Raquel
Natalicchio/The Associated Press
Last month was 1.58 degrees Celsius warmer than the preindustrial late
19th century. The world in 2015 adopted a goal of limiting warming to
1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times, but it mostly applies
to being that warm for a decade or more, not a month.
While several factors play a role in this recent spate of extremes,
"climate change is the most important one," Mr. Silva said.
The trouble is that the world has adapted to and constructed cities
designed for 20th century temperatures and rainfall, but climate
change brings more heat and downpours, said Andrew Dessler, a Texas
A&M University climate scientist.
"We're departing the climate of the 20th century right now and we just
can't handle these events," Dr. Dessler said. "So they're getting
slightly more extreme, but they're passing our ability to handle
them."
Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for the
Nature Conservancy, said more extremes in more places are overlapping.
"Climate change is loading the weather dice against us in every part
of the world," Dr. Hayhoe said. "What this means is that it is
increasing not only the frequency and severity of many weather
extremes, but also that the risk of compound events is increasing."
In just the first five days of May, 70 countries or territories broke
heat records, said climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, who tracks
temperature records across the world.
Nandyala and Kadapa in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh set an
all-time high at 46.3 Celsius, Mr. Herrera said.
Nitin Gadkari, a federal minister, fainted during campaigning in the
western Indian state of Maharashtra.
"Heat waves in India are by far the deadliest type of extreme weather
events. At the same time, they are the type of extremes most strongly
increasing in a warming world," said climate scientist Friederike Otto
in a statement earlier this week.
On May 8, authorities in southern Brazil rushed to rescue survivors of
massive flooding that has killed at least 100 people.
The Associated Press
This week in Southeast Asia, "it was the hottest May night ever," Mr.
Herrera posted on X (formerly Twitter). Parts of Thailand didn't drop
below 30.9 degrees.
In late April, parts of northern Thailand hit 44 degrees, while Chauk
township in Myanmar's hottest region hit a record 48.2 degrees.
Many African nations are also facing scorching heat. Mr. Herrera said
it hit 47.5 degrees in Kayes, Mali. The capital of Niger had its
hottest May night and Burkina Faso's capital had its hottest night for
any month. In Chad, in north central Africa, temperatures were
expected to linger above 45.6 degrees all week.
The deadly heat wave felt across West Africa last month was linked to
human-caused climate change, according to scientists at the World
Weather Attribution group.
In Mexico's Ciudad Altamirano, the temperature neared 46 Celsius with
record heat all over Latin America, Mr. Herrera said. Bolivia had its
hottest May night on record and Brazil its hottest day in May.
The record-setting Brazil heat that stifled huge cites such as Sao
Paulo also kept a rainstorm from moving over the country's south,
turning it deadly, according to Francisco Aquino, a climatologist at
the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
There also was a massive influx of humidity from the Amazon's so-
called flying rivers, or air currents that carry water vapor, Mr.
Aquino explained. "These caused clouds to generate extreme rainfall,"
he said.
The Southern State of Rio Grande do Sul is reeling from the worst
flood on record, with at least 90 people dead, nearly 204,000
displaced and 388 municipalities impacted, according to local
authorities
In Porto Alegre, a metropolitan area with over 4.4 million
inhabitants, the waters took over downtown, the international airport
and several neighbourhoods. Authorities said it will take days for the
water level to recede.
Houston is still trying to dry out after days of heavy rainfall that
required more than 600 people to be rescued from flooding across
Texas, including 233 people in Houston. Just northeast of Houston,
about 58 centimetres fell.
Meanwhile, April brought the heaviest rains ever recorded to the
United Arab Emirates, flooding portions of major highways in the
desert kingdom and Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest
hub for international travel.
Rescuers rushed to evacuate people stranded by devastating floods
across the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul on May 7,
with at least 90 dead, thousands left homeless, and desperate
survivors seeking food and basic supplies.
Reuters
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