2023-2024: Earth's Fever Pitch, Extreme Weather Unleashed
Record global temperatures in 2023-2024 fueled extreme weather like wildfires and floods, demanding urgent climate action.
Topics: environment, politics
Example
2023 was then Earth's hottest year on record, about 1.48 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. That year Canada's wildfire season burned about 18.5 million hectares, more than double the previous record, and Storm Daniel caused dams to collapse in Derna, Libya, killing thousands. 2024 then broke the record: in January 2025 the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed it as the warmest year on record, about 1.55 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the first calendar year above 1.5 degrees.
Key facts
- The WMO confirmed 2024 as the warmest year on record, about 1.55 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, beating 2023.
- Canada's 2023 wildfires burned about 18.5 million hectares, more than double the previous record.
- Storm Daniel's floods in Derna, Libya, in September 2023 killed thousands of people.
Limitations
- One year above 1.5 degrees does not mean the Paris goal is broken, since that goal refers to long-term averages; and death tolls in Derna vary widely between sources.
Evaluations
environment evaluation
Support
Back-to-back record years, with 2024 the first above 1.5 degrees, show warming is no longer a future projection but a measured fact.
Counterargument
A natural El Nino event in 2023 and 2024 added to the heat, so not all of the record is due to human emissions.
Rebuttal
El Nino explains year-to-year swings, but each El Nino peak is now hotter than the last, which is the human-caused trend.
Additional support
Scientists found climate change made the rains in Storm Daniel up to 50 times more likely, linking the record heat to specific disasters.
politics evaluation
Support
Derna's deaths came partly from neglected dams in a divided country, showing how weak governance turns extreme weather into catastrophe.
Counterargument
Governments still approve new fossil fuel projects, showing records alone do not change policy.
Rebuttal
Disasters can shift public opinion and policy over time, but action depends on politics, not only on evidence.
Additional support
Canada's 2023 fires sent smoke across North America, showing climate impacts crossing borders and affecting distant cities.
Sources
- World Meteorological Organization (2025-01-10): WMO confirms 2024 as warmest year on record at about 1.55 degrees C above pre-industrial level
- Global News (2023-12-13): Canada produced 23% of global wildfire carbon emissions for 2023: report
- Gulf News (2023-09-17): Death toll from floods reaches 11,300 in Libya's coastal city of Derna