Exploring Extreme Weather

Written by Jennifer Heilakka Tosso

Extreme weather has been a force this world has had to adapt to and endure since our planet’s birth. It has evolved to the landscape of Earth and is directly correlated to the geographical and meteorological features of the world around us. However, we as humans may be more responsible for the effects we have on extreme weather than one might think. 

Extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms, tornadoes, cold waves and heatwaves, heavy precipitation and drought, and even floods and wildfires are natural events that occur all over the world. They are characterized by their severity and ability to cause significant disruptions to the environment and ecosystems around them. Several factors, such as humidity, precipitation, pressure systems, sea surface temperatures, geographical features like mountain ranges and bodies of water, as well as jet stream patterns, can influence the creation and characteristics of extreme weather events. It should then come as no surprise that human-induced climate change has the potential to widely influence the intensity and abundance of not only these extreme natural events, but daily weather as well.

One of the most well-known weather events is hurricanes (similar to typhoons and cyclones, depending on their geographical location). Hurricanes and tropical storms are powerful rotating storm systems that form over warm tropical water. The warm water allows the air above the surface to retain moisture, which then evaporates and rises, creating a low-pressure area. When surrounding high-pressure air converges on that area, the system starts to spin, aided by the Earth’s rotation forces known as the Coriolis effect. If it maintains the proper amount of heat and moisture, the system can then begin rotating at higher speeds. The sustained wind speed will then determine whether the system is referred to as a hurricane or a tropical storm. While tropical storms are intense, with wind speeds from 39 to 73 mph, they can evolve even further into hurricanes when their wind speeds are sustained at 74 mph or more. These storms will continue to strengthen over warm tropical water until they make landfall and begin to lose their intensity as a result of wind drag across land masses. 

While hurricanes dissipate quickly, they can cause significant damage in their wake. Strong winds, intense rainfall, and severe flooding are just a few of the problems affecting the environments in the storm’s path. NOAA predicted storm activity levels for the Atlantic basin to increase in 2025, expecting up to 18 named storms and stating that higher -than -normal sea-surface temperatures were the primary cause. While only one storm has made landfall at the time of this article, the Atlantic basin has experienced six named storms, one of which evolved into a hurricane – Hurricane Erin. The Eastern Pacific, however, is on track for a below-average season, with NOAA expecting as few as 12 named storms. Why such a difference? The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) states that La Niña, a large-scale cooling of ocean surface temperatures and changes in atmospheric circulation in the equatorial Pacific, has a 55% chance of returning this year. Should this prove a correct prediction, this season’s La Niña will have occurred only two years after the 2020-2023 “triple dip La Niña,” when the average time between occurrences is typically three to five years. If La Niña occurs and ocean temperatures are reduced, the likelihood of tropical storm formation will also decrease.

Somewhat similar in feature to hurricanes are tornadoes. Tornadoes are a type of weather event we do not yet fully understand. They are narrow, rapidly spinning columns of air that extend from a thunderstorm to the ground, made visible by what is called the condensation funnel – a column made up of water droplets, dust, and debris. While any thunderstorm can produce a tornado, massive rotating thunderstorms called supercells can create largely destructive funnels and can produce multiple tornadoes at once. They can happen anywhere at any time in the United States, but are most likely to occur in the peak of tornado season between early May to late July, usually in the southern or central plains. On average, about 1,200 tornadoes hit the United States every year, causing millions and sometimes billions of dollars in property and crop damage. Canada’s tornado count, however, is far behind schedule according to the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), confirming only 34 tornadoes this year compared to 2024’s 90. While safety protocols are in place, tornadoes form very rapidly, so we must be prepared to act quickly when faced with the threat of a tornado.

Another extreme weather event worth mentioning is the occurrence of wildfires. Every year, thousands of wildfires rage across the United States. The National Interagency Fire Center has reported that 60 large fires actively burned across 12 states, with more than 648,000 acres of land involved, just in September of this year. Year-to-date statistics show that the number of wildfires and acreage affected vary greatly every year, a result of changing weather patterns and extreme fluctuations in precipitation. What causes these wildfires, and what can influence them? Many factors can contribute to the creation of wildfires: a lack of precipitation, lightning strikes, power line failures, and even unintentional sparks from campfires or cigarettes can have a detrimental effect. We must do our part to reduce the chances of human-caused wildfires, and spreading awareness is the first step.

While many extreme weather events are strikingly visible threats, there are types of extreme weather that we cannot see – invisible yet deadly. Cold waves and heatwaves are some of the most common events that inhibit daily human life. Extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, have the potential to cause as much physical damage as any other weather event. Subzero temperatures for prolonged periods can destroy plant and animal life by freezing, while heat waves can cause massive amounts of water loss, drought, and increase the risk of wildfires. These temperature waves are caused by atmospheric conditions: heat waves by a high-pressure system trapping warm air in an area, and cold waves by cold, dense air moving from polar regions to lower latitudes. If normal atmospheric conditions can cause temperature waves this intense, imagine the potential impact human-induced climate change can have on these events. According to NOAA’s January Climate Summary, the average temperature throughout January (2025) in the U.S. was 0.9°F below average, with many states seeing as much as 10°F below average. Rainfall averages were also reduced, with most states seeing less than 60% of their average annual rainfall, ranking January as the sixth driest month on      historical record. After experiencing four separate heatwaves in the UK, the Met Office found that the summer of 2025 was the warmest on record and states that summers of this intensity are now 70 times more likely to occur in our climate today compared to a world without human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. 

Extreme weather will always be a part of the world’s natural occurrences. It is as unavoidable as the rising of the Sun or the changing of the seasons, but it has the potential to be negatively impacted by human influence. We, as a species, need to be more aware of the effect we have on our planet, or we could come to lose that which is so precious to us.

Exploring Extreme Weather

Written by Jennifer Heilakka Tosso

“…Climate change is now reshaping our definition of what counts as exceptional… What was once considered exceptional is increasingly becoming typical.” 

-The Met Office, UK.