Extreme Weather 101: Everything You Need to Know

The document defines extreme weather as events significantly different from average patterns, categorizing them into short-term weather-related events (e.g., tornadoes) and longer-term climate-related events (e.g., droughts). It argues that the climate crisis, driven by greenhouse gas emissions, is increasing the frequency and severity of most extreme weather, with attribution studies finding that 70 percent of 405 analyzed events were made more likely or severe by human-caused climate change. The guide details specific impacts, such as the 2010 Russian heat wave and the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires, while highlighting that social inequalities exacerbate the damage, particularly for poorer communities and Indigenous people.

• Extreme weather is categorized into two types: weather-related events, which are shorter incidents like heat waves or tornadoes, and climate-related events, which are longer-term or result from a buildup of weather events, such as wildfires or droughts.
• Research indicates a strong link between human-caused climate change and extreme weather; an analysis of 405 events or trends found that 70 percent were made more likely or more severe due to the climate crisis.
• Climate change specifically intensifies certain weather patterns: it increases the likelihood of drought through higher evaporation, makes heat waves more frequent and severe, and makes tropical cyclones stronger and wetter due to warmer sea surface temperatures.
• The impact of the climate crisis on tornadoes is less certain; while there is no clear increase in the number of strong tornadoes in the U.S., there is evidence that 'tornado alley' is shifting eastward from the Great Plains toward the Midwest and Southeast.
• Extreme weather causes significant secondary health and economic crises, including the spread of diseases like cholera after Cyclone Idai in 2019, and massive financial losses, such as the $145 billion cost of twenty extreme weather events in the U.S. in 2021.
• Environmental justice is a critical factor in disaster outcomes, as preexisting social inequalities determine who suffers most; for example, during Hurricane Katrina, Black homeowners in New Orleans were more than three times more likely to have their homes flooded than white homeowners due to historic racism and residential location.
• Developing countries and Indigenous people are disproportionately vulnerable to climate-fueled extreme weather, leading to calls for wealthier nations to fund 'losses and damages,' a request that was not met with a fund at the COP26 conference in Glasgow.

APA

Rosane, O. (2022). Extreme Weather 101: Everything You Need to Know. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/extreme-weather-101-everything-you-need-to-know/

Chicago

Rosane, Olivia. Extreme Weather 101: Everything You Need to Know. World Economic Forum, 2022. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/extreme-weather-101-everything-you-need-to-know/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rosane |first1=Olivia |title=Extreme Weather 101: Everything You Need to Know |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=11 April 2022 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/extreme-weather-101-everything-you-need-to-know/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rosane2022extreme, author = {Rosane, Olivia}, title = {{Extreme Weather 101: Everything You Need to Know}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2022}, month = apr, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/extreme-weather-101-everything-you-need-to-know/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }