Climate change touched every corner of the globe in 2025. As a result of the work of scientists at organizations like World Weather Attribution and Climate Central, it’s easier than ever to understand how specific weather events are affected by climate change. These six photos show the consequences of our warming climate in action.
Climate change made the Los Angeles fire conditions more intense and likely in early January
The Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire sparked on Jan. 7, 2025, near Los Angeles, California. Two people died in the Palisades Fire, which also destroyed 6,837 structures, according to CalFire. The Eaton Fire devastated Altadena, a community just north of LA, killing 19 people and destroying 9,414 structures.
Climate change increased the risk of extreme fires, according to a World Weather Attribution report. The report concludes: “We have high confidence that human-induced climate change, primarily driven by the burning of fossil fuels, increased the likelihood of the devastating LA fires.”
March wildfire weather in South Korea was made more likely and intense by climate change
In late March 2025, South Korea’s deadliest wildfires on record raced through drought-stricken mountains in the country’s southeast. At least 24 people were killed and 27,000 evacuated, many of whom were elderly, according to reporting by AFP.
A World Weather Attribution analysis found that the fire conditions (high temperatures, low humidity, and high wind speeds) during the period when the fires broke out were about 15% more intense and twice as likely due to climate change.
Climate change made England’s June heat wave hotter
People in the Southeast United Kingdom sweltered in unusually hot early June temperatures as summer kicked off. Previous research has shown heat waves in Europe to be extremely dangerous. A study by researchers in Spain found that more than 60,000 people died due to extreme heat in Europe in 2022.
World Weather Attribution reported that climate change made the June 2025 heat wave in England between two and four degrees Celsius hotter than it would have been in a world without climate change.
Climate change is making disasters like the July 4 Texas flood more likely
Slow-moving storms that began in the early hours of July 4, 2025, dropped up to 20 inches of rain on Texas Hill Country. The stormwater swelled rivers and caused flash floods that killed at least 138 people.
A few days after the flooding, Climate Central published an initial analysis, finding that not only did climate change influence the heavy rain (a warmer atmosphere holds more water, and as the climate warms, rainfall is getting more intense overall), but the region where the flooding occurred had also been in extreme drought conditions before the storm. As Climate Central noted, heavy rain on top of compact, dry soil – which can’t absorb water easily – can cause flash flooding.
Climate change supercharged Hurricane Melissa
In late October 2025, Hurricane Melissa rapidly intensified and tied the record for the Atlantic’s strongest cyclone. The Category 5 storm slammed into Jamaica and then Cuba. It also dumped heavy rain on Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The death toll was reported to be at least 90 people (45 dead in Jamaica, with many still missing, and 45 killed in Haiti) in early November, with the expectation that the number will continue to rise. Thousands of people are still living in shelters in Jamaica and Cuba.
A rapid analysis by Climate Central found that the storm was supercharged by exceptionally warm waters that were made up to 700 times more likely due to human-caused climate change. The researchers estimated that climate change strengthened Melissa’s top wind speed by about 10 mph and increased its potential damage by up to 50%.
A climate-fueled drought worsened in Syria, Iraq, and Iran
Over the past five years, Syria, Iraq, and Iran have suffered from extreme drought conditions. The water shortage has become so dangerous that in November 2025, Iranian officials suggested that the capital city of Tehran, with a metro-area population of around 15 million, would need to be relocated.
According to a World Weather Attribution report, drought in the region has been greatly exacerbated by climate change’s effect on temperatures and rainfall. Without climate change, the researchers found, drought conditions would not be present at all.
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