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Extreme weather did not spare 2022; instead it broke many records
CGTN

Heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, floods and other extreme weather disasters managed to make headlines in 2022, even when the globe was still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following graphic maps out six major weather-driven disasters, each one of which is record-breaking and devastating enough. They include Europe's hottest and driest summer; Pakistan's record-shattering flooding; the Yangtze River's worst drought in 61 years in China; the U.S. from historic heat to extreme chill; the Horn of Africa's longest drought in 40 years and South Korea's worst flooding in 80 years. 

Six major extreme weather events of 2022 on map. /CGTN
Six major extreme weather events of 2022 on map. /CGTN

Six major extreme weather events of 2022 on map. /CGTN

Extreme weather events in pictures:

An emaciated cow stands at the bottom of the water pan that has been dried up for months in Kenya, on Sept 1, 2022. The devastating Horn of Africa drought is worsened with a fifth consecutive failed rainy season, creating an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. /VCG
An emaciated cow stands at the bottom of the water pan that has been dried up for months in Kenya, on Sept 1, 2022. The devastating Horn of Africa drought is worsened with a fifth consecutive failed rainy season, creating an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. /VCG

An emaciated cow stands at the bottom of the water pan that has been dried up for months in Kenya, on Sept 1, 2022. The devastating Horn of Africa drought is worsened with a fifth consecutive failed rainy season, creating an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. /VCG

People waiting to fill their water tanks as they receive water delivery by a humanitarian aid agency twice a week in Kubdisha, Kenya on Sept 1, 2022. The Horn of Africa drought put at least 22 million people at risk of starvation. /VCG
People waiting to fill their water tanks as they receive water delivery by a humanitarian aid agency twice a week in Kubdisha, Kenya on Sept 1, 2022. The Horn of Africa drought put at least 22 million people at risk of starvation. /VCG

People waiting to fill their water tanks as they receive water delivery by a humanitarian aid agency twice a week in Kubdisha, Kenya on Sept 1, 2022. The Horn of Africa drought put at least 22 million people at risk of starvation. /VCG

A police officer gives water to a British soldier wearing a traditional bearskin hat, on guard duty outside Buckingham Palace, during hot weather in London, July 18, 2022. Over half of the UK's oldest active weather stations recorded their hottest day ever in 2022, according to UK's climate agency. /VCG
A police officer gives water to a British soldier wearing a traditional bearskin hat, on guard duty outside Buckingham Palace, during hot weather in London, July 18, 2022. Over half of the UK's oldest active weather stations recorded their hottest day ever in 2022, according to UK's climate agency. /VCG

A police officer gives water to a British soldier wearing a traditional bearskin hat, on guard duty outside Buckingham Palace, during hot weather in London, July 18, 2022. Over half of the UK's oldest active weather stations recorded their hottest day ever in 2022, according to UK's climate agency. /VCG

Leisure boats lie on the dried-up bottom of a river in the Netherlands as water levels in Dutch rivers reached critically low levels on Aug 16, 2022. Europe's major rivers were shrinking due to the most severe drought in 500 years. /VCG
Leisure boats lie on the dried-up bottom of a river in the Netherlands as water levels in Dutch rivers reached critically low levels on Aug 16, 2022. Europe's major rivers were shrinking due to the most severe drought in 500 years. /VCG

Leisure boats lie on the dried-up bottom of a river in the Netherlands as water levels in Dutch rivers reached critically low levels on Aug 16, 2022. Europe's major rivers were shrinking due to the most severe drought in 500 years. /VCG

In Europe's severe heatwaves and drought, a total of 2,300 forest fires had burned a record 700,000 hectares in EU countries by mid-August 2022, the biggest amount since records began. /VCG
In Europe's severe heatwaves and drought, a total of 2,300 forest fires had burned a record 700,000 hectares in EU countries by mid-August 2022, the biggest amount since records began. /VCG

In Europe's severe heatwaves and drought, a total of 2,300 forest fires had burned a record 700,000 hectares in EU countries by mid-August 2022, the biggest amount since records began. /VCG

A displaced family wades through a flooded area after heavy rainfall flooded Jaffarabad, a district of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, on Aug 24, 2022. In Pakistan's devastating flooding, over 1/3 of the country was under water. /VCG
A displaced family wades through a flooded area after heavy rainfall flooded Jaffarabad, a district of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, on Aug 24, 2022. In Pakistan's devastating flooding, over 1/3 of the country was under water. /VCG

A displaced family wades through a flooded area after heavy rainfall flooded Jaffarabad, a district of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, on Aug 24, 2022. In Pakistan's devastating flooding, over 1/3 of the country was under water. /VCG

Flood-affected people sit along with their relief supplies being distributed by aid agencies in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province on Sept 15, 2022. Pakistan's record-shattering flooding in 2022 killed at least 1,739 people. /VCG
Flood-affected people sit along with their relief supplies being distributed by aid agencies in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province on Sept 15, 2022. Pakistan's record-shattering flooding in 2022 killed at least 1,739 people. /VCG

Flood-affected people sit along with their relief supplies being distributed by aid agencies in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province on Sept 15, 2022. Pakistan's record-shattering flooding in 2022 killed at least 1,739 people. /VCG

Boy wades through flood water at a makeshift camp after flood hit Pakistan's Nowshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Aug 30, 2022. /VCG
Boy wades through flood water at a makeshift camp after flood hit Pakistan's Nowshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Aug 30, 2022. /VCG

Boy wades through flood water at a makeshift camp after flood hit Pakistan's Nowshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Aug 30, 2022. /VCG

Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake and a major lake along the Yangtze River shrinking due to the worst drought along the Yangtze in 61 years. /VCG
Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake and a major lake along the Yangtze River shrinking due to the worst drought along the Yangtze in 61 years. /VCG

Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake and a major lake along the Yangtze River shrinking due to the worst drought along the Yangtze in 61 years. /VCG

The Yangtze, the longest river in China, saw record low water levels at its trunk, tributaries and major lakes. The drought brought severe electricity shortage, water shortage and crop damages. /VCG
The Yangtze, the longest river in China, saw record low water levels at its trunk, tributaries and major lakes. The drought brought severe electricity shortage, water shortage and crop damages. /VCG

The Yangtze, the longest river in China, saw record low water levels at its trunk, tributaries and major lakes. The drought brought severe electricity shortage, water shortage and crop damages. /VCG

Farmers in Jiujiang City of east China's Jiangxi Province use eight pumpers to suck up water 24 hours a day to irrigate crops, on Aug. 17, 2022,  during the worst drought in 61 years along China's longest river the Yangtze. /VCG
Farmers in Jiujiang City of east China's Jiangxi Province use eight pumpers to suck up water 24 hours a day to irrigate crops, on Aug. 17, 2022, during the worst drought in 61 years along China's longest river the Yangtze. /VCG

Farmers in Jiujiang City of east China's Jiangxi Province use eight pumpers to suck up water 24 hours a day to irrigate crops, on Aug. 17, 2022, during the worst drought in 61 years along China's longest river the Yangtze. /VCG

People in Wuhan City of central China's Hubei Province walking on the exposed river bed during the Yangtze River's worst drought in 61 years. /VCG
People in Wuhan City of central China's Hubei Province walking on the exposed river bed during the Yangtze River's worst drought in 61 years. /VCG

People in Wuhan City of central China's Hubei Province walking on the exposed river bed during the Yangtze River's worst drought in 61 years. /VCG

Melanie Kayson, a resident of Pine Island, Fla., USA, cries as she is evacuated in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. /VCG
Melanie Kayson, a resident of Pine Island, Fla., USA, cries as she is evacuated in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. /VCG

Melanie Kayson, a resident of Pine Island, Fla., USA, cries as she is evacuated in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Oct. 2, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air. /VCG

Residents on Pine Island, Fla., USA, being evacuated in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Oct. 1, 2022. Ian, the strongest hurricane this year in the U.S. killed at least 145 people. /VCG
Residents on Pine Island, Fla., USA, being evacuated in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Oct. 1, 2022. Ian, the strongest hurricane this year in the U.S. killed at least 145 people. /VCG

Residents on Pine Island, Fla., USA, being evacuated in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Oct. 1, 2022. Ian, the strongest hurricane this year in the U.S. killed at least 145 people. /VCG

Photo taken in Seoul, capital of South Korea, on Aug. 9, 2022, shows the Han River overflowing due to record torrential rain. /VCG
Photo taken in Seoul, capital of South Korea, on Aug. 9, 2022, shows the Han River overflowing due to record torrential rain. /VCG

Photo taken in Seoul, capital of South Korea, on Aug. 9, 2022, shows the Han River overflowing due to record torrential rain. /VCG

Pedestrians are escorted across a flooded road in Gimpo City, South Korea, on Aug. 9, 2022. At least eight people were killed after the heaviest flood in 80 years hit Seoul, inundating streets and subway stations and causing blackouts. /VCG
Pedestrians are escorted across a flooded road in Gimpo City, South Korea, on Aug. 9, 2022. At least eight people were killed after the heaviest flood in 80 years hit Seoul, inundating streets and subway stations and causing blackouts. /VCG

Pedestrians are escorted across a flooded road in Gimpo City, South Korea, on Aug. 9, 2022. At least eight people were killed after the heaviest flood in 80 years hit Seoul, inundating streets and subway stations and causing blackouts. /VCG

The trend:

Extreme weather events occur every year. Even the destructive U.S. hurricane season this year is considered average in terms of the number of hurricanes it produced. But scientists have been increasingly linking these individual events to climate change. 

Climate change makes heatwaves hotter and more frequent, according to Reuters. This is the case for most land regions, and has been confirmed by the U.N.'s global panel of climate scientists (IPCC). A heatwave that occurred once per decade in the pre-industrial era would happen 4.1 times a decade at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, and 5.6 times at 2 degrees Celsius, the IPCC said.

The warming weather also increases hot and dry conditions that help fires spread faster, burn longer and rage more intensely. It also saps moisture from vegetation, turning it into dry fuel that helps fires spread.

During a rainstorm, hotter air adds rainfall, making floods more severe. A study by an international team of climate scientists found that climate change could have worsened Pakistan's floods by 50 percent, by increasing the most intense rainfall over a short period in the worst affected areas by about 50 percent, The Guardian reported in September.

(All images via VCG; graphic designed by CGTN's Zhang Xuecheng)

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at nature@cgtn.com.)

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