43 photos show how extreme weather and natural disasters have gotten more intense over the last decade
Gus Trompiz and Joan Faus/Reuters, Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Extreme weather and natural phenomena have always been on the radar, but in the last decade, the intensity and frequency of storms and natural disasters have increased.
Scientists have linked this increase to climate change.
Extreme winter weather patterns like snow squalls, bomb cyclones, and the polar vortex might have something to do with rising temperatures in the Arctic, for example, according to recent studies.
Under these new norms, extreme weather is causing more damage than it used to.
Here is an inside look at how extreme weather and natural disasters are getting more intense.
Extreme weather patterns, both wet and dry, have been linked to climate change. This includes temperature, precipitation and lack thereof, and natural disasters.
Jason Weingart/Barcroft Images/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Source: Public Health
Severe weather linked to climate change varies in different regions.
Jolyn Rosa/Reuters
Source: National Geographic
But exposed mountain and coastal regions have proven more vulnerable to the increase in severe weather over time. In 1980, there were 291 catastrophic events related to weather and climate. In 2014, there were 904.
Jonathon Nachman/Reuters
Source: National Geographic
That said, experts can't usually attribute climate change as the underlying cause of individual storms and disasters.
Jason Weingart/Barcroft Images/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
Rather, climate change can be linked to the overall increase in frequency and impact of these natural disasters.
Jason Weingart/Barcroft Images/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
One example of this is rising sea levels. Climate change is linked to glaciers melting, which results an increase in sea levels. While rising sea levels are not a natural disaster on their own, they can lead to natural disasters, such as flooding.
Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters
Source: National Geographic
About 160 billion tons of surface ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet, which covers 80% of Greenland, melted in July 2019 because of warmer temperatures, according to Reuters.
Tom Miles/Reuters
Source: Reuters
The melted ice ends up in our oceans, causing sea levels to rise. Rising sea levels causes flooding in coastal cities and towns, like this residential area in Greenland.
Tom Miles/Reuters
Source: Reuters
Experts predict that in the coming years, continuous climate change will lead to sea levels rising 10 to 32 inches by the end of the century, and storms (including hurricanes) will become stronger.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Source: National Geographic
Stronger storms like hurricanes and typhoons will likely do more damage to civilizations.
Megan Rowling/Reuters
Source: National Geographic
One recent example of this is this severe damage caused by a super typhoon in China in 2018. According to National Geographic, the storm packed winds of up to 165 mph, and it may have been the strongest typhoon to his Hong King in 60 years.
Tyrone Siu/Reuters
Source: Reuters, National Geographic
In early 2019, a tornado hit the northwestern Providence of Liaoning in China.
Source: Reuters
Tornados are rarely seen in this area, according to China's Global Times newspaper, and government forecasters linked this incident, along with other cases of "extreme weather," to climate change.
David Stanway/Reuters
Source: Reuters
According to National Geographic, the global precipitation average is rising as well, and the trend is linked to climate change.
Gary Hershor/Getty Images
Source: National Geographic
Guerrilla rain, a term coined in the last decade, describes a storm in which clouds form at the same time that moist air from the ocean comes up against the warm air trapped among tall, packed buildings to create quick and heavy downpours. They are on the rise in Tokyo, according to the Guardian. The storms form when moist ocean air meets the warm air that is trapped in between Tokyo's tall, tightly packed buildings.
Jae C. Hong/AP Photo
Source: The Guardian
Experts say both floods and droughts are occurring more frequently and are likely to become stronger and more damaging, National Geographic reports.
Beijing Monitoring Desk/Reuters
Source: National Geographic
Warmer oceans cause wind speeds to increase, according to Yale Climate Connections.
China Stringer Network/Reuters
Source: Yale Climate Connections, Business Insider
According to Reuters, this flood in North Carolina last year was one of the ten worst climate-linked disasters of 2018.
Sonia Elks/Reuters
Source: Reuters
During the flood, these dogs were left caged by an owner who fled.
Sebastien Malo/Reuters
Source: Reuters
In mid-2019, the Hunan Province of China experienced severe flooding after heavy rain.
Yang Huafeng/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images
Source: China Daily
Bangladesh also experienced severe flooding in mid-2019 ...
Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images
Source: weather.com
...and it affected thousands.
Zakir Hossain Chowdhury/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Source: weather.com
In mid-2019, China experienced another flood due to heavy rain.
David Stanway/Reuters
Source: Reuters
Up to 11 US states could see a 500% increase in the amount of annually burned land by 2039, according to a study funded by the US Forest Service Global Change Program.
Juan Medina/Reuters
Source: The US Forest Service Global Change Program, Business Insider
Although wildfires have always been a part of the American western ecosystem, fire season has increased by three months in the past few decades.
Source: NPR
In mid-2019, Hawaii's governor declared an emergency on the island of Maui due to a large wildfire.
Jolyn Rosa/Reuters
Source: Reuters
The fire began with 20 mph winds and covered 9,000 acres.
Jolyn Rosa/Reuters
Source: Reuters
Climate change does not cause wildfires, but it does contribute to the increase in risk and damage done.
Tom Balmforth/Reuters
Source: Business Insider
Wildfires destroy 4-to-5 million acres of land in the United States each year, according to National Geographic.
Rafael Marchante/Reuters
Source: National Geographic
Heat waves may not look extreme, but they can be deadly. In mid-July 2019, a four-day heat wave in western Europe killed seven people.
Gus Trompiz and Joan Faus/Reuters
Source: Reuters
Greenhouse gas emissions likely contributed to the extreme temperatures, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
Gus Trompiz and Joan Faus/Reuters
Source: Reuters
But global warming doesn't just make the world hotter — it's also been linked to more extreme winter weather. As early as October in 2019, the Northeast experienced what's known as a bomb cyclone.
Getty ImagesThis is essentially the winter version of a hurricane with lighter winds.
NOAA via Associated Press
Source: The New York Times
In December 2019, the Northeast also experienced what's called a snow squall, a sudden and intense burst of snow.
Frank Franklin II/AP
Source: Business Insider
The short-lived but intense combination of gusty winds and heavy snowfall makes it incredibly difficult to see through.
Frank Franklin II/AP
Source: Business Insider
The December 2019 snow squall made it through New York City in less than an hour.
Kris Mobayeni/Reuters
Source: Business Insider
MIT climatologist Judah Cohen recently came up with an explanation for changing winter weather patterns — apparently, it's the Arctic.
Associated Press
Source: Popular Science
"If the Arctic is cold, that favors less severe winter in the eastern US," he told Popular Science. "When the Arctic is warm, it's the opposite relationship. A warmer Arctic favors colder temperatures in the eastern US and heavier snowfall."
Source: Popular Science
The polar vortex plays a part in this. The polar vortex is a band of strong winds high in the atmosphere that locks cold air around the Arctic region.
NOAA/Handout via Reuters
Source: The Guardian
But in early 2019, the vortex ventured south to the Midwestern states of the US, causing temperatures to drop to -20 degrees, and wind chills nearing -50 degrees.
Adam Gray/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Source: Weather
The polar vortex dipping south of the North Pole can be linked to climate change.
Adam Gray/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Source: Business Insider
When warm air trapped in the atmosphere from greenhouse gases intrudes on the polar vortex, the disturbance in the vortex may cause the winds to be slower and wavier.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Source: Business Insider
While skeptics may dismiss climate change when extreme cold weather strikes, experts say that this theory comes from confusing weather with climate. Climate is the average of weather over time.
Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Source: Business Insider
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