Obadiah Mulder, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and Ida Kubiszewski, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Wetlands bear the brunt of much storm damage to the coast. But over the past 300 years, 85% of the world's wetland area has been destroyed.
In a year tied for the warmest on record globally, the U.S. was hit with costly hurricanes, wildfires, storms and drought.
AP Photo/Noah Berger and Gerald Herbert
NOAA released its list of climate and weather disasters that cost the nation more than $1 billion each. Like many climate and weather events this past year, it shattered the record.
The aftermath of Hurricane Delta. Louisiana, US, October 2020.
Tannen Maury / EPA
From heatwaves to droughts to storms, climate change poses one of the biggest health threats to Australians. Yet the federal government makes no mention of it in its strategic health planning.
Hurricanes Marco and Laura swept through the Gulf of Mexico just two days apart in August 2020.
Joshua Stevens/NASA Earth Observatory
Disaster preparation and evacuation procedures weren't made for social distancing. The pandemic means response decisions are now fraught with contradictions.
Extreme wildfires can fuel tornadoes, creating erratic and dangerous conditions for firefighters.
David McNew/Getty Images
Some rainstorms drench you in a second, while others drop rain in a nice peaceful drizzle. A meteorologist explains how rainstorms can be so different.
A vast plume of Saharan dust blankets Havana, Cuba, June 24, 2020.
Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images
From June through October, it's not unusual for huge Saharan dust plumes to blow across the Atlantic. They can darken skies but also bring calmer weather and electric sunsets. Here's how they form.
A derecho moves across central Kansas on July 3, 2005.
Jim Reed/Corbis via Getty Images
Hurricane and tornado winds spin in circles, but there's another, equally dangerous storm type where winds barrel straight ahead. They're called derechos, and are most common in summer.
Lagos residents need to know more about the risk of heavy storms.
Pius Utomi Ekpe/AFP via Getty Images
In the Southeast US, tornadoes strike at night more often than in other regions. This poses special challenges for getting early warnings to the public.
A woman takes part in an alternative summit of indigenous people during COP25.
David Fernandez/EPA-EFE
Earth's biggest rivers are streams of warm water vapor in the atmosphere that can cause huge rain and snowfall over land. Climate change is making them longer, wetter and stronger.
A firestorm on Mirror Plateaun Yellowstone Park, 1988.
Jim Peaco/US National Park Service
Large, intense bushfires can pump so much heat into the atmosphere they form their own thunderstorm system. And that can make the weather on the ground even more dangerously unpredictable.
Studies on mortality in sub-Saharan Africa haven’t focused on the effects of climate change.
Shutterstock
African countries need to take into account the effects environmental changes, like climate change, have on their ability to deal with food security, poverty reduction and lowering mortality rates.
Surf threatens beach houses on Dauphin Island, Alabama, September 4, 2011 during Tropical Storm Lee.
AP Photo/Dave Martin
'Building back better' refers to making communities more disaster-proof and resilient after they take a hit. But instead, some US owners are building back bigger homes in vulnerable places.