That Was This Year: A Look Back at 2020’s Worst Climate Impacts

The document details a series of record-breaking climate events in 2020, including an unprecedented number of billion-dollar disasters in the US, extreme wildfires in California and Colorado, and devastating tropical cyclones in the Philippines and the Bay of Bengal. It highlights that 2020 was on pace to be the second-hottest year on record and notes the acceleration of Arctic sea ice retreat. Experts cited in the text emphasize that these events are driven by human-caused climate change and call for urgent climate action and funding for affected poor populations.

• The United States experienced a record number of 'billion-dollar disasters' in 2020, with 16 events recorded by October 7, later increased by Hurricanes Delta and Zeta.
• The 2020 wildfire season in the western US saw unprecedented destruction; California burned 4.78 million acres, surpassing the 2018 record of 1.98 million acres, and experienced its first million-acre mega-fire, the August Complex.
• Global tropical cyclone activity in 2020 included Super Typhoon Goni, the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone in recorded history, which hit the Philippines with 195 mph winds on November 1.
• The 2019/2020 Australian bushfire season burned approximately 48 million acres, caused 34 direct deaths, and destroyed 5,900 structures, with climate change increasing the risk of the underlying weather by at least 30 percent.
• The Arctic is warming two to three times faster than the global average due to 'Arctic amplification', leading to the second lowest minimum sea ice extent on record in 2020.

APA

CCNow (2020). That Was This Year: A Look Back at 2020’s Worst Climate Impacts. Covering Climate Now. https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/that-was-this-year-a-look-back-at-2020s-worst-climate-impacts/

Chicago

CCNow. That Was This Year: A Look Back at 2020’s Worst Climate Impacts. Covering Climate Now, 2020. https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/that-was-this-year-a-look-back-at-2020s-worst-climate-impacts/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=CCNow |title=That Was This Year: A Look Back at 2020’s Worst Climate Impacts |publisher=Covering Climate Now |date=8 December 2020 |url=https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/that-was-this-year-a-look-back-at-2020s-worst-climate-impacts/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ccnow2020that, author = {CCNow}, title = {{That Was This Year: A Look Back at 2020’s Worst Climate Impacts}}, institution = {Covering Climate Now}, year = {2020}, month = dec, url = {https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/that-was-this-year-a-look-back-at-2020s-worst-climate-impacts/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }