How does climate change affect the weather?
Climate change affects our weather – this is an indisputable fact. But how and why does this happen? In this article, we explain how our changing climate is making weather around the world more extreme; and highlight some of the things we can do about it.
Why is the planet getting warmer?
The rapidly increasing temperature of our planet is a key factor in weather change.
Much of this temperature increase is directly related to ‘greenhouse gases’ such as carbon dioxide and methane. These gases trap heat within the atmosphere, and are emitted through the burning of fossil fuels, as well as other human activities.
As the world’s industry has taken off – devastating natural resources through deforestation, industrial farming and polluted water systems – more heat has become trapped, raising the temperature of our planet. Earth was on average 1.36 degrees Celsius warmer in 2023 than it was when record-keeping began in the late 1800s. 1.36 degrees might not sound like much, but it has a huge impact on our eco-systems and the world’s weather.
Source: Carbon Brief
How does a warmer planet affect the weather?
We’ve already seen the impact of climate change on our weather. A study by Carbon Brief maps out almost 750 extreme weather events, 74% of which were made ‘more likely or severe because of climate change’.
Here are some of the ways our weather is impacted by climate change:
Heatwaves
Global warming has already led to longer, hotter heatwaves – temperatures in Mali reached over 48C in April 2024. Sometimes heat can become trapped, when a patch of high pressure stays over an area for a prolonged period of time. This is known as a heat dome.
Heatwaves are a direct danger to human health as raised body temperatures put strain on the heart and brain.
They also lead to dangerous wildfires including the Australian wildfires of 2019 – 2020 in which up to 19 millions hectares was burnt, affecting nearly 3 billion animals.
Unusually cold weather
It’s not just extreme hot weather that we’re seeing as a result of rising global temperature. It may sound counter-intuitive, but a hotter planet can also lead to colder weather.
This is because warmer land and air melts sea ice and glaciers. As well as causing sea levels to rise, melting ice is impacting the ocean currents that transport warmer tropical waters through to colder climates. This steady transfer supplies countries like the UK with the climate we have come to know – wet but mild, occasional snow – but that could change if ocean currents are disrupted.
Warmer, less salty water (glacial water is freshwater) generates more extreme storms and would slow the transfer of tropical waters, meaning much colder winters in places like the UK and Europe.
Heavy rain
For every degree warmer the planet gets, 7% more water vapour can be held in the atmosphere, contributing to higher levels of rainfall and flash flooding – as seen in Spain and the UK in Autumn 2024.
Instances of flooding lead to higher chances of future flooding as floodwaters erode away natural flood defences whilst also wiping out crops and leeching nutrients from the soil.
It’s estimated that 1.9 million people in the UK live in areas at significant risk from river, coastal or surface water flooding, and that number could double by 2050 as sea levels rise.
Drought
Where some areas in the world are getting wetter, other areas, often in the Global South, are experiencing longer droughts. Somalia suffered its worst drought in 40 years in 2022 – leading to the deaths of 43,000 people due to starvation and infectious diseases. Climate scientists agree that droughts like this are 100 times more likely due to human-induced global warming.
Hurricanes
While the number of hurricanes hasn’t increased, the severity has – with more hurricanes around the world reaching Category 3 or higher. Global warming is thought to be influencing this – with warmer sea temperatures helping hurricanes to build up more energy, meaning higher wind speeds. And as we’ve already discovered, the air can hold more rain in a warmer climate, meaning often a triple whammy of rain, wind and storm surge damage.
In 2024, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton hit Florida in the USA just 11 days apart, causing the deaths of nearly 300 people, as well as $50 billion in damages.
What can we do to prevent extreme weather?
To prevent extreme weather from getting worse, we need to limit our planet’s rising temperature.
This must be done at a global scale. Almost every nation in the world signed up to the Paris Agreement to limit warming to ‘well below 2C above pre-industrial levels’. Nations aim to do this by reducing emissions, building renewable infrastructure, and prioritising sustainability.
You can play a part too. You can lend your voice to petitions that highlight climate issues, you can switch to renewable energy or an electric car, you can eat less meat, and you can shop responsibly and call out the multinational organisations that are the worst contributors towards climate change.
