August sees extreme weather events world over, scientists warn this could be new normal

Throughout August, several parts of the world reeled under extreme weather events – from wildfires to tropical storms, heatwaves, and flashfloods – some even breaking climate-related records (Image for representation)

United Nations Chief António Guterres said, “The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived”, and with good reason. Throughout August, several parts of the world reeled under extreme weather events – from wildfires to tropical storms, heatwaves, and flashfloods – some even breaking climate-related records, and definitely, not in a good way.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has cautioned that the extremes reached are becoming “the new normal” and has declared human-induced climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions as the main driver.

Alvaro Silva, a climate expert from the World Meteorological Organization, said: “This is the new normal and does not come as a surprise. The frequency and intensity of many extremes, such as heatwaves and heavy precipitation, have increased in recent decades. There is high confidence that human-induced climate change from greenhouse emissions, is the main driver. This gives us the long-term context for the increasing occurrence and severity of such extreme weather and extreme events.”

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Let us look at some catastrophic, unusual weather events in August that have made headlines:

To begin with, oceans were found to be unusually warm, which is a known cause behind increasing occurrence of cyclonic storms.

According to the United Nation, ocean temperature made a world surface temperature record on August 4 when the mercury touched 20.96°C. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has declared: “The ocean is hotter than ever.”

Earlier this year, the European Union’s climate monitoring service ‘Copernicus’ had announced that the north Atlantic Ocean, and in particular the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean, was unusually warm.

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In Florida, the temperature of the water surface reached 38°C and in the Mediterranean, an absolute record of 28.7°C was set in the month of July.

India, on the one hand, witnessed the driest August in more than a century, with the country receiving 36 percent less rainfall than normal in 2023, as per data compiled by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The country has received 10 percent lower rainfall than normal from June 1 to August 31, the IMD data showed.

On the other hand, torrential rains wreaked havoc on Himachal Pradesh, by triggering landslides and flashfloods that claimed more than 300 lives and also damaged property and displaced many more in its wake. This adversely affected the tourism sector in the state too, with hotel occupancy falling to a record low of around 10 percent.

Similar events unfolded in China's Beijing. A record 744.8 millimetres (74.48 cm) of rainfall was recorded in Beijing on August 7 -- the highest since 1883. Chinese authorities claimed 33 lives were lost due to the floods, including five rescue workers; 18 others were declared missing. That apart, over 50,000 houses collapsed while 1,50,000 others were damaged.

As a whole, Asia is warming faster than the global average – almost twice as much between 1991 and 2022 as between 1961 and 1990, the latest WMO report on the climate in Asia stated.

Meanwhile, Morocco broke the 50°C barrier for the first time on August 11. The Agadir weather station recorded a temperature of 50.4°C on that day. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, this occurrence was not an isolated one – in Türkiye, the mercury hit 49.5°C for the first time on August 15, while in China’s Xinjiang province, it crossed 52°C in July.

Though not battling sweltering heat, Switzerland reported a “freezing point” at a record altitude of 5,298 metre -- 115 metre higher than in 2022. This was registered on August 21. One must note here that this altitude is much higher than Europe’s highest peak Mont Blanc, which stands at 4,808 metre.

Matthias Huss, who heads the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network, dubbed it as “another blow for glaciers that have already strongly suffered this year”.

In the extreme west, by mid-August there were 600 active fires that were out of control in Canada. Through the year, a total of 5,738 blazes have already burnt 13.7 million hectares, which is more than one percent of the country (roughly the size of Greece). The fires have also affected the northern regions of the country near the Arctic Circle.

Hawaii, overall, has been getting less rainfall over the last 30 years and the fire risks in Maui have been steadily growing, an NYT report stated. More than 100 people have died in the Maui blaze that started on August 8 and over a third of the county has been classified as facing “severe or moderate drought” this summer. Rising average temperature and unmanaged invasive wildlife growth have been blamed for making Hawaii more flammable, but Maui County has sued oil companies for alleged “coordinated, multifront effort” to hide how burning of their products calatyse extreme climate conditions.

In the United States, a tropical storm rattled the Southwest while another hit Texas. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, 103.7 million Americans live in areas that are under extreme weather alerts. Daniel Swain, climate scientist, University of California, has said: “Twenty years from now, a summer like this is going to feel like a mild summer. In terms of the incredibly frenetic pace of global extremes we are seeing this summer, in terms of temperatures and precipitation, that’s only going to get worse as the climate continues to warm.”

Europe saw extreme weather events too with floods in Slovenia, landslides in Norway, thunder and hailstorms in northern Italy, wildfires in Portugal, and a heat wave in Spain.

Torrential rainfall in the mountainous region triggered landslides across southern Norway killing two and damaging property. In Slovenia, flooding and mudslides left a trail of destruction. Large parts of the harbour in Sweden’s second largest city Goteborg were under water. The Aftonbladet newspaper quoted Swedish Meteorologist Erik Hojgard-Olsen as saying that such weather was unusual for this time of year. Spain, meanwhile, endured three heatwaves this summer, with certain pockets of the southern Andalusia region hitting 44 degrees Celsius. Also, both Spain and Portugal have weathered raging wildfires this year.