The last decade saw weather grow more extreme, with cyclones, floods, and fires incurring greater costs.
The last decade saw weather grow more extreme, with cyclones, floods, and fires incurring greater costs. But thanks to improved early warning systems, deaths from extreme weather fell, a new report finds.
Climate changed accelerated between the years 2011 and 2020, with rising temperatures fueling more extreme weather, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Of the five costliest-ever weather disasters, four fell within the last decade, all of them hurricanes that hit the U.S.
Across the globe, cyclones proved to be the costliest weather disasters, while heat waves were the deadliest, the report found. “Numerous studies show that, in particular, the risk of intense heat has significantly increased in the past decade,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement. “More countries reported record high temperatures than in any other decade.”
Read More: Yale Environment 360
Flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey in southeast Texas, August 31, 2017. (Photo Credit: Staff SGT. DanielL J. Martinez / Air National Guard)
