A year of extreme weather that challenged billions 

A year of extreme weather that challenged billionsHasan Jedi/Getty ImagesClimate change has brought record-breaking heat this year, and with it extreme weather, from hurricanes to month-long droughts.This year is expected to be the hottest on record, and new research shows that people around the world experienced an additional 41 days of dangerous heat due to climate change.Researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group at Imperial College and Climate Central said the study shows “we are living in a dangerous new era”.From Brazil to Indonesia we take a look back at the climate events that affected the lives of billions in 2024.This year set to be first to breach 1.5C global warming limitHow is extreme weather linked to climate change?How is the world doing on tackling climate change?Billions suffer under heatwave This was a year of heat – temperature records were broken on land and in the sea multiple times. Marine life suffers in super-heated oceansIn April dozens of countries, from Lebanon in the west to Cambodia in the east, suffered a prolonged heatwave, bringing the risk of dehydration and heat stroke. But Julie Arrighi, director of programmes at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, said that the impacts are not felt equally.”Young people and those over 65 particularly those with pre-existing health conditions [are at risk] – they are physiologically less able to cope with extreme heat,” she said. She said people in conflict settings also suffered disproportionately because of their housing situations, including living in temporary shelters, which can magnify heat, or a disrupted water system.Research has shown that populations over time can adjust to higher temperatures, but even taking this into account scientists at WWA and Climate Central estimate in 2024 the world’s populations experienced 41 additional days of dangerous heat – compared to a world without climate change.Dr Friederike Otto, lead of WWA and Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at Imperial College London, said: “The impacts of fossil fuel warming have never been clearer or more devastating than in 2024. “We are living in a dangerous new era – extreme weather caused unrelenting suffering.”Niharika Kulkarni/AFPLifeblood of the Amazon dries upA regional heatwave around the Amazon region was made worse by a natural climate phenomenon called El Niño, but the researchers at the WWA and Climate Central said that climate change remained the driving force.Coupled with higher temperatures, rainfall was also reduced across part of South America. Officials in Colombia reported that levels in the Amazon river were reduced by 90% severely affecting power supply, crop yield and leading to wildfires.Nearly half a million children are thought to have been affected as schools in Brazil and Colombia were closed due to a lack of drinking water, according to Unicef. The Amazon river is also an important lifeline for the rainforest of the same name – which provides support to t