Greenhouse gas emissions have also increased this year, according to the Global Carbon Project, humanity has emitted 40.5 billion tons of CO2. Nevertheless, the results of the UN climate conference in November were more than meager, a farewell to oil and gas was not mentioned in the final declaration.
In Europe, 2022 will be the warmest year on record in some countries, such as Spain, Italy and Switzerland. According to the American weather service NOAA, there is a 95 percent probability that it will be the sixth warmest in the world. Despite the climate phenomenon “La Nina”, which tends to have a dampening effect on global temperatures.
Record rain in Australia and Pakistan
As a result of “La Nina”, Australia experienced torrential rains like never before, and large areas of the country were flooded several times. In February, more than 670 liters of rain per square meter fell in the metropolis of Brisbane in just three days, more than in Vienna for the whole year. In Sydney, 2022 is by far the wettest year, over 2,500 liters per square meter have fallen so far.
Pakistan experienced the worst year in its history. First there was a heat wave in spring with up to 51 degrees with great drought and an unprecedented number of forest fires. Then came record rains. In the province of Sindh, for example, it rained eight times as much as the average in August. A third of Pakistan was under water, 33 million people were displaced and more than 1,700 died.
In February, images of mudslides in Brazil went around the world. Historic rain has hit the city of Petropolis near Rio de Janeiro. The authorities measured almost 260 liters per square meter in 24 hours, more than ever before.
Five meters of fresh snow in Japan
The climate crisis does not rule out masses of snow either. In some regions of the world, the snowfall is even increasing in intensity, for example in East Asia. In Japan, exactly five meters of snow piled up in Niigata Prefecture in February at just 400 meters above sea level. Whole houses sank in the snow masses. There was also an unusual amount of snow in Athens in January.
In November, a record six feet of snow fell in the city of Buffalo, in upstate New York, in just one day. The “Lake Effect” was responsible. This is what is called the phenomenon when cold arctic air sweeps across the relatively warm Great Lakes of North America, soaks up moisture and then releases it on land in the form of snowfall. Around Christmas, the next winter weather extremes followed in the Midwest and on the east coast of the USA, including minus temperatures in the double-digit range.
The role of man-made climate change
Britain made history in the summer. For the first time ever, 40 degrees were reached, including in London. Without human-caused climate change, this heat would have been extremely unlikely, say researchers at the World Weather Attribution Initiative (WWA), who are trying to prove the human footprint in extreme weather events.
Evidence was also provided for the enormous rainfall and flooding in South Africa in April. In the city of Durban, 351 liters of rain per square meter fell, twice the old daily record. Africa is only responsible for four percent of global emissions, but the effects of the climate crisis are disproportionately large.
Up to 47 degrees in Europe
Extreme weather also claimed many lives in Europe. In France alone, more than 10,000 people died from the effects of the heat in the summer, according to the national health authority. Europe experienced the warmest summer in its history, with temperatures in excess of 40 degrees being measured in many countries.
It was hotter than ever on the Balearic Islands: 44.5 degrees on Formentera. The heat reached its peak in July in Portugal with 47 degrees. Due to the additional drought, rivers dried up in summer or were just trickles, such as the Loire in France and the Po in Italy. Milan experienced the driest year ever.
Large forests burned in France, for example near Bordeaux an area of 32,000 hectares was destroyed. Spain was also hit by enormous forest fires. The data from the EU climate change service show that the fires in both countries released more CO2 this year than in any other year since measurements began in 2003.
More solar power than ever before
But there is also positive news. On October 7th, Greece reached a small milestone towards energy independence. For at least five hours, the country was supplied with 100 percent electricity from sustainable sources. In the EU, electricity production from sun and wind has reached a record this year, between March and September almost a quarter of the electricity was covered, according to a study by the two environmental think tanks Ember and E3G.
Renewable energy from the sun and wind is now cheaper than fossil fuels from oil, gas and coal. This is driving the energy transition. According to a new study by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the capacity of renewables will almost double worldwide in the next five years. Speed is also necessary, because every additional ton of CO2 in the atmosphere makes the weather more extreme. “We are on the highway to climate hell,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the start of this year’s climate conference.
Heat and drought also in Asia and North America
In Japan, the rainy season ended exceptionally early, and a sweltering summer followed. In the capital Tokyo, people experienced the longest heat wave in history, 35 degrees and more for eight days in a row. In South Korea, on the other hand, the heaviest rainfall in 80 years flooded parts of Seoul in August.
China, which emits the most CO2 in the world, was also hit hard by the heat and drought. The people here experienced the hottest summer since measurements began. There was also an extreme drought. The Yangtze River was at its lowest level since measurements began, hydroelectric power generation and agriculture were suffering.
The drought in the western United States continued unabated in 2022. The largest artificial lake in the United States, Lake Mead, which provides water for 25 million people, sank to its lowest level on record and was only 27 percent full. California experienced one of the worst heat waves ever in September.
After the heat came the flood
In a warmer climate, heat waves become hotter, droughts drier and heavy rains more intense. In Valencia (Spain) there were rain records in November, in September it hit the Italian region of Marche with by far the heaviest rain since records began. The extremely warm Mediterranean Sea, which reached tropical temperatures of up to 30 degrees in summer, was also responsible for the extreme weather.
The warm Caribbean sea also provided the energy for hurricane “Ian” in Florida in September. The hurricane hit Florida with wind speeds of up to 255 km/h, the storm surge reached a height of up to 4.5 meters. According to reinsurer Swiss Re, it was the world’s most expensive insurance event of the year, with losses of over 50 billion dollars.
Records also in the Arctic and Antarctic
The polar regions were not spared from extreme weather in 2022 either. In the Norwegian city of Tromsö, temperatures above 30 degrees were measured for the first time in June. On the Spitsbergen archipelago, more ice melted than ever before in a single summer. In September, after the summer, Greenland experienced an unprecedented heat wave. It thawed in an area larger than Italy.
March was exceptionally mild in Antarctica. The Dome C research station measured minus 10.1 degrees, 40 degrees more than normal at the time. At the end of the summer, the sea ice around Antarctica was no longer two million square kilometers and was therefore smaller than it had been since measurements began.
The global climate has warmed by 1.2 degrees since industrialization. With the current climate protection measures taken or planned worldwide, there is a risk of an increase of around 2.5 degrees by the end of this century.
