Crisis Chronology

CLIMATE

12/14/2023

At international climate meeting COP28, members agree to state formally, for the first time, that fossil fuels are causing climate change and the world needs to “transition away” from their use.

12/06/2023

Heavy rains have caused landslides that have killed 65 people and displaced thousands in Tanzania. The weather is a consequence of the El Niño pattern in the Pacific Ocean.

11/21/2023

Brazil records its highest temperature in history, 112.6° F (44.8° C).

11/20/2023

Two days of heavy rain have displaced 13,000 and killed at least 20. President Luis Abinader said it is the “largest rainfall event ever” in the Dominican Republic’s history. “Those who do not believe in climate change, start believing,” he says

11/20/2023

Somalia flooding kills 50, displaces 700,000.

11/07/2023

Torrential rains displace more than 300,000 in Somalia.

09/19/2023

At least 6000 are known dead in Libya, and many tens of thousands displaced, as the damage and deaths from Daniel have the potential to create widespread illness and cause more deaths.

09/14/2023

Death toll in Libya estimate raised to more than 10000, with another 10000 missing. The worst-hit area is around the city of Derma in the east. Elements of the two governments are cooperating in rescue and humanitarian efforts.

09/11/2023

Tropical Storm Daniel causes two dams to collapse in Libya and resulting drastic flooding kills at least 2000, while more than 10000 are missing.

09/08/2023

Heaviest rainfall since records have been kept, 140 years, in Hong Kong and nearby Chinese city of Shenzhen.

09/07/2023

Extremely heavy rainfall causes fatal flooding in Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

07/17/2023

Severe heat wave across the southern United States.

07/17/2023

Heat wave worsening in southern Europe, with Spain and southern Italy possibly seeing temperatures above 100° F/42°C.

07/13/2023

Severe heat wave covers Europe.

07/10/2023

South Africa sees its first snowfall since 2012.

06/22/2023

Beijing records its hottest day on record.

06/15/2023

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reports that the world has experienced its hottest early June on record.

05/15/2023

Severe drought across Spain. Catalonia has seen no rain for a year. 2021 was the driest year on record.

05/08/2023

Vietnam and Laos record highest temperatures as heat wave grips Southeast Asia.

03/21/2023

World Health Organization estimates that 43,000 died in Somalia in 2022 due to the longest drought on record in the country.

03/20/2023

U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues a report that the world is likely to miss its most ambitious climate target and that humans have caused irreversible damage to communities and ecosystems.

03/19/2023

Millions of dead fish found in a river, dying due to lack of oxygen in the water, at least partially due climate change in the form of a heat wave in the area.

03/12/2023

Cyclone Freddy makes second landfall. It is now the longest and most powerful cyclone ever in the southern hemisphere.

03/05/2023

190 countries agree on a framework for establishing new protected areas in international waters.

02/15/2023

Warming temperatures in sub-Saharan Africa are encouraging the spread of mosquitoes that transmit malaria.

02/06/2023

Heavy snow in Greece. This is the third consecutive winter in which Greece has seen extreme weather.

01/26/2023

China, Japan, and the Korean peninsula experience heavy snowfall and the coldest temperatures in a decade.

01/10/2023

In the US, California is hit a deadly series of rainstorms that cause widespread damage.

01/03/2023

Historically high temperatures in Europe from France to western Russia.

12/19/2022

UN meeting on biodiversity secures pledge to protect 30% more land by 2030 in order to protect species’ habitats.

12/03/2022

Southern Peru experiencing its worst drought in almost a half century.

11/29/2022

Largest dam in Zimbabwe halts electricity production as water falls below necessary level. The Kariba dam provides about 70% of Zimbabwe’s energy.

11/19/2022

Countries at the COP climate talks agree to form a “loss and damage” fund for countries that pollute little but suffer heavily from climate change effects. There is no agreement on reducing emissions.

11/15/2022

Yet another period of severe flooding in the southeast of Australia.

11/05/2022

Smog forces schools to close in New Delhi, India.

11/05/2022

Quebec, Canada, records its highest November temperature on record, 25.3° C (77.5° F).

10/25/2022

UN climate chief says that the world has failed to make any progress on reducing climate temperature increase and has increased the rate of rise.

10/19/2022

Flooding has killed more than 600 and displaced more than a million.

09/09/2022

India restricts rice export after below-average monsoon rainfall.

09/08/2022

US west coast experiencing record heatwave that may force widespread power outages.

09/02/2022

Most powerful typhoon of the year hits the Philippines, Taiwan, and South Korea. It has been categorized as a “supertyphoon.” In the Atlantic, no hurricanes developed in the month of August, the first time that has happened since 1997.

08/26/2022

Extreme flooding in Pakistan has killed at least 1000 and displaced at least a million people.

08/21/2022

Wildfires devastate northern Algeria.

08/11/2022

Extended heat wave and drought in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. France battling significant fire in the Gironde.

08/10/2022

Heat wave continues exacerbating drought.

07/28/2022

Extremely unusual heavy rain and flooding in July in Qatar and the UAE.

07/22/2022

Severe heat waves across China.

07/20/2022

Heat wave in UK continues but moderates slightly, though the country is largely still at a standstill. Fires break out from London to Scotland. France experiencing two large wildfires in the south. Spain and Portugal also experiencing widespread wildfires and maximum heat. Wildfires in Greece move toward Athens, Greece. The heat wave, which moved north from Africa, will probably moderate slightly over the next week, although the resulting dangers will not.

07/03/2022

Evacuations ordered for Sydney, Australia, since heavy rains and widespread flooding is expected.

06/28/2022

Record heat wave.

06/08/2022

EU votes to phase out combustion engines by 2035.

05/06/2022

Temperatures remain historically high throughout India and elsewhere in south Asia. Temperatures above 88° and humidity above 95% create what is called wet bulb conditions, in which sweat does not evaporate from the body, so the body is unable to cool itself and cooks itself from within.

05/05/2022

Severe and widespread sandstorms in Iraq sicken thousands.

04/29/2022

Highest temperatures in India in 122 years. Heat waves beginning in March, two months early.

04/14/2022

After the heaviest rainfall in sixty years, more than 300 are killed by floods and the collapse of buildings and infrastructure.

04/12/2022

Santiago government announces first water rationing plans in the city’s five centuries of existence. There has been a drought in the area for thirteen years. The plan would begin with voluntary restrictions and then when necessary, restrict water flow, and then rotate cutoffs of up to twenty-four hours in areas of the city.

04/07/2022

Sydney, Australia, is hit by torrential rain. It has received its average annual rainfall in the first three months of 2021.

04/04/2022

UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that the world must make drastic cuts to use of fossil fuels for energy if it hopes to avoid disastrous consequences.

03/25/2022

Great Barrier Reef suffers its fourth bleaching event since 2016.

03/19/2022

Temperatures in the arctic and Antarctica are 70° C higher than normal.

03/11/2022

Wildfire becomes the largest in South Korean history.

03/01/2022

A massive cloud of ash blown from wildfires in Argentina engulfs capital Asunción and southern Paraguay.

02/28/2022

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN initiative involving hundreds of climate scientists, says that climate change is happening faster than previously known, and will be more devastating. While there is still some time to reverse its worst future effects, that window is closing and in the meantime we are already seeing severe impacts.

02/20/2022

Unusually powerful storm hits the British Isles, with winds up to 122 mph (196 km/hour).

02/08/2022

Severe drought in Horn of Africa threatens famine for millions in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. Three seasons of dry rainy seasons have decimated harvests and forced migration.

01/31/2022

World Meteorological Organization records two new lightning flash records: the longest flash – 477 miles (768 km), over the southern United States, and the longest duration – 17.1 seconds, over Uruguay and northern Argentina.

01/17/2022

Government says that the new name for the Indonesian capital will be Nusantara (a word that means “outer islands,” that is, outer from Java), a term used to describe the Indonesian archipelago. In 4/17, Widodo proposed creating a new capital to replace Jakarta, on Java. In 4/19, a ten-year plan was announced for the move, and in 8/19, Widodo said the new capital would be in Kalimantan. Jakarta is rapidly sinking, primarily due to ground water extraction, and is predicted to be submerged by 2050.

01/14/2022

Cambodian farmers around largest freshwater lake facing shortage of water for crops due to growing demand for land, droughts attributed to climate change and hydropower development.

01/11/2022

With temperatures well above 100° F, Argentina is the hottest place on earth. Thousands are without power.

01/11/2022

The Copernicus Climate Change Service, a group affiliated with the European Union, reports that the last seven years have been the hottest on the planet.

12/27/2021

Unprecedented heavy rainfall in Brazil breaks dams and causes thousands to flee.

11/30/2021

Dar-es-Salaam in Zambia experiencing severe water shortages as rivers dry up due to a lack of rainfall and record high temperatures. October is the beginning of the short rainy season.

11/26/2021

Iranian government clamps down on spreading protests about water shortages.

11/15/2021

New Zealand agrees to help islanders of Banaba, Kiribati, who suffer from frequent severe droughts.

11/15/2021

India Supreme Court calls for Delhi to lock down due to toxic smog that is covering the city.

11/11/2021

China and the US agree to work on concrete plans to reduce carbon emissions.

11/08/2021

Tuvalu investigating legal ways to relocate its lands and remain a country with fishing rights, etc, if the island is covered by rising seas.

11/03/2021

Agreement at COP26 to end use of coal in the 2030s for large economies and 2040 for smaller ones.

11/02/2021

Ninety countries pledge to reduce methane production.

11/01/2021

Although most countries at climate conference now recognize the significance of climate change, there is still little movement on mitigating it.

10/31/2021

World leaders at COP26 pledge to end deforestation.

10/29/2021

Climate summit, COP26, opens.

10/25/2021

Greenhouse gases reach a new high in concentration in the atmosphere.

10/06/2021

Maasai of Kenya to give up their nomadic life to unpredictable climate changes.

10/04/2021

Drought devastating northern Kenya.

09/27/2021

Widespread power outages in the US northeast.

09/03/2021

UN report says that Madagascar faces the first climate-induced famine. The country has suffered drought for four years.

09/02/2021

Extraordinary flooding in the northeast due to the storm that was hurricane Ida.

08/12/2021

Sicily records the highest temperature ever in Europe, 48.8° C (119° F).

08/12/2021

Wildfires devastating the north. Arson is suspected, since more than fifty fires broke out on 8/11.

08/09/2021

UN International Panel on Climate Change report says that extreme heat is unavoidable, along with major disruptions of weather patterns throughout the world. The report says that a warming of 1.5° C in highly likely within two decades. It is called a “code red for humanity.”

08/08/2021

Fires in Siberia that are thawing the permafrost may release enormous amounts of methane frozen there.

08/07/2021

A new report suggests that climate change affecting the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which redistributes warmer and colder ocean waters in the Atlantic. If the AMOC collapsed, it would increase cooling of the Northern Hemisphere, sea level rise in the Atlantic, an overall fall in precipitation over Europe and North America, and a shift in monsoons in South America and Africa, all of which would increase instability in weather patterns.

08/02/2021

Wildfires raging across southern Europe, from Italy to Greece to Turkey, amid a heat wave.

07/20/2021

Torrential rains in central China cause widespread flooding.

07/20/2021

With temperatures regularly more than 115°, Dubai government seeding clouds to create rain, with some success.

07/20/2021

Reports of large protests in southeastern Iran province of Khuzestan due to water shortages caused by drought and high temperatures.

07/19/2021

Wildfires widespread across Siberia, in part due to unusual hot summer. In some areas, the permafrost is melting, posing a threat to the taiga, an important source of food and income.

07/15/2021

Flooding in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France as well as Germany.

07/12/2021

Severe drought in western US.

06/28/2021

Historically severe heat wave hits west coast of the USA and Canada, with temperatures reaching 115° F.

06/24/2021

A rare powerful tornado passes through several villages in southeastern Czech Republic, causing catastrophic damage. Much of Hrušky has been destroyed, according to its mayor. Four people are killed and 150 others are injured.

05/06/2021

Severe drought devastating agriculture. Jordan is one of the most water-deficient countries in the world, and the Mideast is increasingly vulnerable to “water wars” as countries run short of water.

03/22/2021

Thousands being evacuated from Sydney after torrential rains cause the worst floods in sixty years.

02/28/2021

Devastating and extreme cold and snow in the US Midwest south to Texas causes power grid to break down, leaving thousands without heat and water.

02/18/2021

US returns to Paris climate agreement.

10/29/2020

Wildfire season is the most devastating in the history of US west, especially California, Oregon, and California.

10/29/2020

There have been more natural disasters causing damage of more than $1 billion in 2020 than in any other recorded history.

10/29/2020

Strongest typhoon in its history hits Vietnam.

09/23/2020

About 380 whales die when they beach themselves off Tasmania. Scientists have no explanation for the phenomenon.

09/22/2020

About 330 elephants have died in Botswana since July. Scientists have discovered that toxins in the water poisoned them.

09/22/2020

Arctic ice shrinks to its second-lowest level on record.

09/14/2020

Wildfires now incinerating large swaths of the west coast of the US.

09/09/2020

World Wildlife Fund reports that wildlife populations have decreased by two-thirds in the last fifty years…Nature is unraveling and … our planet is flashing red warning signs of systems failure," wrote Marco Lambertini, Director General of World Wildlife Fund International.

08/28/2020

Highest flooding in Karachi since records have been kept in 1931 after the heaviest rains in a hundred years.

08/24/2020

More than five hundred wildfires burning in California. In addition to a dry summer, there were recently hundreds of lightning strikes, an unusually high number.

06/20/2020

100° F (38° C) temperature recorded in Siberia, the first three-digit temperature in the arctic circle.

05/27/2020

India suffering its worst locust attack in 50 years. As in Africa, the locusts have burgeoned due to heavy rains and cyclones in the Indian Ocean last year, leading to increased locust reproduction this year.

03/01/2020

Locust plagues in East Africa.

02/17/2020

Storm Dennis causes flooding in Wales and England.

12/15/2019

UN climate talks end with no progress as large industrialized nations fail to lead. China and India demand billions of dollars to compensate to finance climate goals.

12/10/2019

Bush fires continue to threaten Sydney, causing highly dangerous atmospheric quality.

12/10/2019

Annual review of Arctic reports that ice is melting at the fastest projected rate and the permafrost is unfreezing, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere. Greenland is losing ice sheets at seven times the rate of the 1990s.

12/07/2019

Drought in Zimbabwe results in Victoria Falls drying up.

11/28/2019

EU parliament declares a climate emergency, a largely symbolic move that requires that all legislative and budgetary proposals follow guidelines for reducing CO2 in the atmosphere.

11/26/2019

UN issues dire forecast that unless greenhouse gases are reduced by 7.6% per year by 2030, the effects of climate change will be catastrophic.

11/14/2019

Legislature approves package of responses to climate change, including cutting carbon emissions by 55% by 2030.

11/12/2019

High tides flood Venice, causing a state of emergency. The mayor of Venice attributes the height of the tides to climate change.

11/11/2019

Australia facing devastating wildfires.

11/05/2019

Pollution in major cities in India reaches highly dangerous level. In the fall, farmers burn off their fields and the month-long festival of Diwali is celebrated with fireworks.

10/31/2019

Case brought by Greenpeace on behalf of German farmers argues that the government has not complied with its climate protection targets for 2020. They seek to have the government do so.

10/28/2019

Power company in California cutting power to hundreds of thousands temporarily as a precaution against downed lines creating wildfires. Wildfires burning widely throughout the state.

09/29/2019

Access to clean water threatened by climate change according to the 2019 World Risk Report published by the Institute of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict.

09/24/2019

Widespread fires in Indonesia causing toxic haze to blanket large regions of the country, especially in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

09/20/2019

Worldwide student strike for action on climate change, led by Greta Thunberg.

08/07/2019

UN report warns that land use is exacerbating climate change.

07/25/2019

Record heat wave across Europe. Temperatures reach above 108° F (42° C).

06/30/2019

Guadalajara suffers freak hail- and snowstorm that drops more than five feet of snow.