MSK Library Guides: Climate Crisis: Climate Diasters

What are Climate Disasters?

Climate disasters are natural events in weather cycles. We’ve always had hurricanes, droughts and wildfires, flooding and high winds. However, in recent years we have begun witnessing a scale of destruction and devastation that is new and terrifying.

Major US climate disasters occur every three weeks, report finds
Nature News
Jeff Tollefson | 15 November 2023

Resources

Diasters and climate change
UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
Extreme Weather and Climate Change
NASA Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet
NOAA Storm Events Database
The database currently contains data from January 1950 to October 2023, as entered by NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS).
ReliefWeb
Humanitarian information service provided by OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)
Extreme Weather and Climate Change
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
Mapped: How climate change affects extreme weather around the world
Carbon Brief, 2022
Climate Change Indicators: Weather and Climate
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Climate crisis: Extreme weather
World Health Organization
Emergency Situations

Highlighted Articles

Event attribution and partisanship shape local discussion of climate change after extreme weather
Boudet, H., Giordono, L., Zanocco, C. et al. Event attribution and partisanship shape local discussion of climate change after extreme weather. Nat. Clim. Chang. 10, 69–76 (2020).
Global evidence of rapid urban growth in flood zones since 1985
Rentschler, J., Avner, P., Marconcini, M. et al. Global evidence of rapid urban growth in flood zones since 1985. Nature 622, 87–92 (2023).
How Climate Change Is Fueling Extreme Weather
Earth Justice | July 19, 2023
The human factor in water disasters
Nature Outlook
By Erica Gies | 14 December 2023
Increasing probability of record-shattering climate extremes
Fischer, E.M., Sippel, S. & Knutti, R. Increasing probability of record-shattering climate extremes. Nat. Clim. Chang. 11, 689–695 (2021).
Inequitable patterns of US flood risk in the Anthropocene
Wing, O.E.J., Lehman, W., Bates, P.D. et al. Inequitable patterns of US flood risk in the Anthropocene. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 156–162 (2022).
Natural disasters that plagued the world in 2023
Al Jazeera | December 17, 2023
Observed influence of anthropogenic climate change on tropical cyclone heavy rainfall
Utsumi, N., Kim, H. Observed influence of anthropogenic climate change on tropical cyclone heavy rainfall. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 436–440 (2022).
Record thunderstorm losses and deadly earthquakes: the natural disasters of 2023
Munich RE | 9 January 2024
Seasonal advance of intense tropical cyclones in a warming climate
Shan, K., Lin, Y., Chu, PS. et al. Seasonal advance of intense tropical cyclones in a warming climate. Nature 623, 83–89 (2023).
Thunderstorm straight line winds intensify with climate change
Prein, A.F. Thunderstorm straight line winds intensify with climate change. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 1353–1359 (2023).
Visualizing Climate Disasters’ Surprising Cascading Effects
Scientific American
By Lori Youmshajekian & Federica Fragapane | February 1, 2024
The Weather of Summer 2023 Was the Most Extreme Yet
Counsel on Foreign Relations
By Noah Berman, Author and Sabine Baumgartner | September 18, 2023
Harbingers of decades of unnatural disasters
Otto, F.E.L., Raju, E. Harbingers of decades of unnatural disasters. Commun Earth Environ 4, 280 (2023).