Few regions of the globe were spared from the deadly collection of weather extremes brought about by a changing climate.
It would be an understatement to say 2022 was a tough year around the world in terms of climate disasters – but in the United States, the year has ended in an exclamation point with the arrival of a “bomb cyclone” storm that crippled much of the nation in a sub-zero deep freeze and led to the death of at least 40 people in western New York.
Climate disasters, from floods and cyclones and hurricanes to wildfires, drought, and killing heatwaves spread around the world non-stop, or so it seemed.
Brutal record-breaking heat waves hit much of Europe, southern Asia, and China this past year, creating a circum-Northern Hemisphere crisis of searing heat, economic troubles, and human suffering.
Further south, Argentina and Paraguay saw record climate change-worsened heat, while record heat waves also continued to scorch Australia and help stoke a growing humanitarian crisis in East Africa.
Extreme rainfall and flooding
Scientists say climate change is helping to fuel the increased frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events, in part because a warmer atmosphere can hold significantly more moisture, reports the Washington Post.
Between July and August, five 1,000-year rain events occurred across the United States, while monumental flooding in Pakistan and south Asia this year displaced millions of people.
In Pakistan, more than 1,500 people were killed and 33 million were displaced following a record-breaking monsoon in June. Countries including India, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan also recorded hundreds of deaths and millions displaced due to flooding around the same period.
Climate change made the floods up to 50 percent worse and caused three times the rainfall recorded as Pakistan’s 30-year average, experts said. Haphazard infrastructure development and deforestation due to urbanization also contributed to the disaster, as did melting glaciers in the Himalayas.
Devastating Heatwaves and drought
The year 2022 will go down in the history books as being the warmest on record. In the U.S., 2022 was the third-hottest U.S. summer on record in the past 128 years, according to NOAA.
The heat that scorched and baked the country this summer smashed thousands of temperature records along the way. Added to the extreme heat is a persistent drought that has covered more than 40 percent of the continental United States for nearly two years.
Europe experienced its hottest summer on record in 2022. And scientists published a sprawling global assessment that warned warming will continue unless humans drastically cut back on greenhouse gas emissions that heat the planet.
Record-breaking heat and drought across Europe dried up rivers and fueled fires in several countries including France, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain. At least a dozen people died, thousands were displaced and carbon emissions surged to break records kept since 2003.
In the Horn of Africa, which comprises the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia, as well as neighbouring Uganda, drought has caused one of the most extreme food crises the continent has ever seen.
The cost of these weather disasters is shockinjg
You really can’t put an accurate cost on a disaster, mainly because there are so many mitigating factors. Yes, a home lost to a wildfire will have a monetary value, but how do we put a money value on a lifetime of memories and any material things lost.
At east 29 billion-dollar weather disasters have rocked the planet in 2022, said insurance broker Aon in its quarterly disaster report issued October 18. Heat waves in Europe killed more than 16,000 people and nearly 1,700 died as a result of flooding in Pakistan.
The report cited total economic losses estimated at minimally $227 billion – of which $99 billion were covered by public and private insurers – representing a protection gap of 56 percent.
Michal Lörinc, head of catastrophe insight in Aon’s Impact Forecasting team, said: “It is anticipated that there will be robust loss development across many of the reported natural catastrophes, especially with the realization of costs associated with recent tropical cyclone development worldwide. Recurring La Niña conditions and the remainder of tropical cyclone seasons can potentially trigger impactful events through the rest of the year, with additional costs arising from inflationary pressure. Secondary perils can similarly push the overall insured losses for 2022 well beyond $100 billion.”
