Many extreme weather events are becoming more common and more intense around the world, fuelled by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels. BBC Here are four ways that rising temperatures are affecting weather extremes. 

1. Hotter, longer heatwaves.......Even a small increase in average temperatures makes a big difference to heat extremes. As the range of daily temperatures shifts to warmer levels, hotter days become more likely and more intense. Scientists use computer models to simulate how individual extreme weather events unfold in two scenarios.......today's world with about 1.3C or more of human-caused warming........a hypothetical world without human influence on the climate. That way, they can estimate how much a particular heatwave, storm or drought was affected by climate change. In the UK, temperatures topped 40C for the first time on record in July 2022, causing extensive disruption. This would have been extremely unlikely without climate change, according to scientists at the World Weather Attribution group (WWA). In June 2025, the Met Office said the chance of seeing temperatures above 40C was now more than 20 times greater than during than 1960s. And the likelihood of reaching such temperatures will continue to rise as the world warms, it said. Around the world, climate change has made countless heatwaves much more likely and more intense, the WWA says. Examples include 48C temperatures in Mali in April 2024 and prolonged, widespread heat in Scandinavia in July 2025, with temperatures regularly passing 30C in Norway. Heatwaves can happen as a result of heat domes, which are created when an area of high pressure stays over the same area for days or weeks, trapping hot air underneath. One theory suggests that higher temperatures in the Arctic - which has warmed nearly four times faster than the global average - are affecting the fast band of winds high in the atmosphere known as the jet stream. That could be making heat domes more likely, although this is not clear cut. 

2. More extreme rain.......For every 1C rise in air temperature, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture. With more moisture available, rainfall can become heavier.......read on        https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4dgp1p3p1o

How climate change worsens heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and floods BBC5 November 2025 Mark PoyntingClimate reporter, BBC News Many extreme weather events are becoming more common and more intense around the world, fuelled by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels. Here are four ways that rising temperatures are affecting weather extremes.1. Hotter, longer heat waves Even a small increase in average temperatures makes a big difference to heat extremes. As the range of daily temperatures shifts to warmer levels, hotter days become more likely and more intense. Scientists use computer models to simulate how individual extreme weather events unfold in two scenarios.......today's world with about 1.3C or more of human-caused warming.........a hypothetical world without human influence on the climate. That way, they can estimate how much a particular heatwave, storm or drought was affected by climate change. In the UK, temperatures topped 40C for the first time on record in July 2022, causing extensive disruption.This would have been extremely unlikely without climate change, according to scientists at the World Weather Attribution group (WWA). In June 2025, the Met Office said the chance of seeing temperatures above 40C was now more than 20 times greater than during than 1960s. And the likelihood of reaching such temperatures will continue to rise as the world warms, it said.One theory suggests that higher temperatures in the Arctic - which has warmed nearly four times faster than the global average - are affecting the fast band of winds high in the atmosphere known as the jet stream. That could be making heat domes more likely, although this is not clear cut.

Current National Climate Pledges Fall Far Short of What Is Needed to Limit Warming to 1.5C, Report Shows Earth.Org Martina IginiGlobal CommonsOct 30th 2025 Limiting global warming to 1.5C will require a reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions of 43% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. We are currently on track to slash them by 17% by 2035. Current emissions reduction pledges will slash emissions by 17% below 2019 levels by 2035, according to a new report. But the world remains well off course to keeping global warming below the critical 1.5C threshold leaders committed to by signing the Paris Agreement a decade ago. Published Wednesday by the UN climate change arm, the latest Synthesis Report on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) looks at current climate commitments and progress toward the goals set out in the Paris Agreement. NDCs are national climate plans that each signatory to the agreement must prepare and update every five years, forming the foundation of the world’s collective efforts to tackle climate change. More than 130 countries missed a September deadline to submit the latest round of NDCs, including some of the world’s largest emitters like the European Union, Iran, South Africa and China.

Some of them have pledged to do so before next month’s COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil. The new Synthesis Report is based on 64 new NDCs submitted between January 2024 and September 2025. Collectively, they represent just one-third of global emissions, and put the world on track to slash emissions by 17% below 2019 levels by 2035. Scientists say that staying within a 1.5C warming limit will require a reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 43% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels, peaking no later than 2025. “This report lays bare a frightening gap between what governments have promised and what is needed to protect people and planet,” said Melanie Robinson, Global Climate, Economics and Finance Program Director, World Resources Institute.Brazil, Australia, Japan and the UK were among the countries whose climate pledges were included in the report. The US also submitted a plan under former president Joe Biden. But it is unlikely that the current administration will implement it, with Trump administration officials now likely to sit out next month’s summit. Humanity is now clearly bending the emissions curve downwards for the first time, although still not nearly fast enough,” Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said on Tuesday. “We have a serious need for more speed.”Meanwhile, COP30 CEO Ana Toni called on countries to submit their updated NDCs ahead of the summit. “This will be critical for making COP30 the stage of a decisive moment in the history of multilateralism,” she said......read on   https://earth.org/current-national-climate-pledges-fall-far-short-of-what-is-needed-to-limit-warming-to-1-5c-report-shows/?mc_cid=9abc9154db&mc_eid=9e83f67e3f

The typhoon made landfall on the coast of Hailing Island, Yanjiang City in Guangdong at about 17:00 local time (9:00 GMT) on Wednesday, according to Chinese state media. It crossed the mainland with sustained winds of 144km/h and higher gusts. Wind speeds are expected to gradually weaken as the storm moves westwards over land but rain will be torrential and slow-moving across the region for several more days. 

The southern Chinese cities of Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou - all located in Guangdong - were braced for seawater intrusion from about midday local time. In Zhuhai, police patrolled the streets with sirens and megaphones, telling people to stay at home. Red alerts for landslides were also issued in the mountainous regions of Guangdong province. Away from the Chinese mainland, authorities in Taiwan are still dealing with the destruction caused by Ragasa, which officials have described as being "far worse than anticipated". Premier Cho Jung-Tai has demanded an inquiry into how evacuations were carried out after at least 17 people died after a barrier lake, formed by a landslide in July, burst its banks in Hualien county, causing severe flooding in the town of Guangfu. Others remain missing, the fire department said."We must investigate why evacuation orders were not carried out in the areas we had asked for, which led to such a tragedy," Cho told reporters. "This is not about assigning blame, but about uncovering the truth."

Earlier on Wednesday, the village chief of the township of Dama in Taiwan, home to about 1,000 people, said the entire village had been flooded and many people were still stranded as a result of the Matai'an Creek barrier lake burst Taiwan lake as strongest storm barrels towards China,  "It's chaotic now," Wang Tse-an told Reuters news agency. "There is mud and rocks everywhere. Some flooding has subsided but some remains.".......read on     https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq8edyey1llo

AND....Howling winds and sheets of rain inside Chinese city battered by Typhoon Ragasa CNN 24 September 2025 Briana Waxman  Helen Regan The sound of rush hour in Zhuhai on China's southern coast has been replaced by howling winds and sheets of rain. Branches from falling trees and what looked like pieces of metal from the edge of a building flew along empty roads on Wednesday as typhoon Ragasa bore down. Police vehicles have been patrolling the streets with megaphones, urging people to stay inside - but it is difficult to hear them above gusts of 100mph (160km/h) winds. Still, the thundering skies and a drenched Zhuhai are enough of a warning – apart from an occasional cyclist, determined to get to work, most people heeded the advice, bringing this city of almost three million people to a standstill.

The strongest storm the world has seen this year, Ragasa has been making its way across the South China Sea after battering the Philippines and Taiwan. At least 15 people have died in eastern Taiwan after a mountain lake burst its banks, officials have said. As the storm brushed past Hong Kong, steep waves crashed into land, inundating coastal areas, alongside powerful winds and rain, leaving more than 60 people injured. It made landfall in China this evening at17:00 local time (09:00 GMT). By then nearly two million people in densely populated Guangdong province, home to Zhuhai, had already been evacuated. Officials have also issued a red alert for high tides and coastal surges.

As the eye of the storm barrelled close to the mainland, the rain lashed the city's tall buildings. The wind, already strong, hit harder in waves and blasts, which made standing upright almost impossible. Even watching from inside, windows in our new hotel creaked under the strain.......read on  https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/22/asia/super-typhoon-ragasa-philippines-hong-kong-intl-hnk