From summer heat across the whole of the northern hemisphere to a cruel drought inflicting mass hunger in east Africa, 2022 felt almost unrelenting in extreme weather.
While hazards like hurricanes and wildfires happen naturally, climate breakdown is making them worse, scientists say.
And they agree that extreme weather events are going to become “more frequent in most locations across the world”, warned professor Tom Oliver, who specialises in ecology and evolutionary biology at Reading University.
But what is lesser known is “the way in which these events interact with each other and cause knock-on effects,” he said.
“Extreme weather is implicated in food shortages, mass human displacement and geopolitical conflict.
“These complex risk cascades are impossible to predict precisely but, as a general rule, we face a more volatile and unstable world as a result of accelerating climate change,” he added.
Here are just seven new records broken in 2022:
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Image: Fires broke out around England in the July heatwave
1. Record heat in UK left people and infrastructure struggling to cope
The extreme weather grounded flights, buckled trainlines and fuelled devastating blazes that destroyed homes.
The Met Office’s Mike Kendon said at the time that what stood out was “how much more widespread the heat was” than in previous heatwaves.
“Temperature records tend to get broken by modest amounts and by just a few stations, but the recent heat broke the national record by 1.6°C and across an extensive area of the country,” he said.
In Europe as a whole the average temperature was the highest on record for both August and summer period by “substantial margins” of 0.8°C for August and 0.4°C for summer, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Image: Dead fish left on the dried-up bed of the river Tille in Lux, France, in August. Pic: AP
2. Europe’s drought worst in 500 years
All that heat fuelled Europe’s worst drought for some 500 years, according to preliminary analysis. The parched conditions shrivelled plants and rivers, leaving hordes of dead fish and failed crops.
The drought exacerbated the energy crisis by evaporating water from hydropower lakes and hindering cooling of nuclear power plants.
What made it so bad was the fact “most of Europe” was exposed to compounding heatwaves and dry weather, an EU researcher said.
In the second worst drought, 2018, dry and hot weather in central and northern Europe was partially offset by wet conditions in the south.
Image: Pic: AP
3. Drought-triggered famine in east Africa
This year Somalia and Ethiopia suffered what is thought to be the worst drought in 40 years, fuelled by climate change.
It has driven people to hunger and the brink of famine, threatening the lives and livelihoods of 36 million people.
Catastrophic levels of hunger in drought-stricken Madagascar should be a “wake up call” to the current and severe danger of global heating, the World Food Programme warned in August, as the country teetered on the edge of the world’s first climate change-induced famine.
Image: Hundreds of firefighters struggled to contain a blaze in the Gironde region of southwestern France in July
4. Europe wildfires – second highest on record, but pollution broke new boundaries
More land was torched than in any other year on record apart from 2017, when the Ophelia cyclone intensified an unseasonal October fire in Portugal.
But the amount of harmful pollution did reach a new record high, with the total emissions from the European Union and the UK from June to August 2022 thought to be the highest for these months since the summer of 2007.
Wildfire emissions are a significant source of atmospheric pollutants, which turn air dirty and harm human health.
“This year’s fire season was very intense in terms of burnt areas, but especially so in terms of [the] number of fires and fire danger levels,” Dr Jesús San-Miguel-Ayanz, from the European Commission’s Disaster Risk Management Unit, told Sky News.
Image: Pic: AP
5. India and Pakistan heat ‘a sign of things to come’
It was a “sign of things to come,” they said as they published the study.
India endured its hottest March since records began over 120 years ago, and land surface temperatures in south Ahmedabad soared to 65°C in April.
The crippling heat compounded energy shortages, with a surge in demand leaving many without power. It also wiped out 50% of some crop yields.
When the mercury soared to 50.2°C in Nawabshah, a city in southern Pakistan, it was thought to be the highest temperature ever reliably measured in April for any location on Earth.
Image: An aerial view of damaged and inundated homes after Hurricane Ian tore through Lee County in Florida, U.S. Pic: ABC via Reuters
6. Counting the cost of Hurricane Ian
Hurricane Ian is this year’s most expensive catastrophe, with estimated preliminary insured losses of $50bn (£41.1bn).
Swiss Re Institute predicts it to be the second-costliest insured loss ever after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, more than 2012’s Superstorm Sandy that swamped New York and New Jersey.
Image: Homes are surrounded by floodwaters in Sohbat Pur city, a district of Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, Pic: AP
7. Violent flooding in Pakistan burst river banks and records
From mid-June to late August large areas of Pakistan suffered record-breaking monsoonal rainfall.
It inflicted flash floods and landslides, and saw overflowing rivers and glacial lakes. The flooding uprooted more than 32 million people, destroyed 1.7 million homes, and killed more than 1,700 people.
The south Asian nation received more than three times its usual rainfall in August, making it the wettest August since 1961.
Two southern provinces, Sindh and Balochistan, experienced their wettest August ever recorded, receiving seven and eight times their usual monthly totals respectively.
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Image: Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Image: Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
Tens of thousands of people have packed St Peter’s Square as the funeral of Pope Francis begins.
Royals, world leaders and cardinals joined scores of worshippers at the Vatican, as mourning of the 266th pontiff transcended wealth and social class.
In keeping with Francis’s life as a breaker of tradition, many of the more elaborate and expensive rituals customary for the burial of popes have been foregone in favour of simpler options.
Around 200,000 people are attending the funeral, with around 50,000 packing out St Peter’s Square.
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His body had been lying in state since his death aged 88 on Easter Monday, spending the last few days in St Peter’s Basilica to allow mourners to pay their respects.
The Vatican – where the funeral service is taking place – and Rome – where Francis will be laid to rest – are under heavy security, with a no-fly zone in place overhead.
Image: The coffin of Pope Francis is borne aloft by pallbearers. Pic: Reuters
Image: Members of the clergy gathered to say farewell to their pontiff. Pic: Reuters
Francis’s coffin has been taken out into St Peter’s Square where 220 cardinals and 750 bishops and priests are sitting in rows, waiting to say goodbye to the Bishop of Rome.
A series of readings and prayers are being read before the 50,000 faithful gathered before the basilica, and the coffin will be sprinkled with holy water and incense.
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2:27
Singing rings out at the Vatican
Image: Members of the clergy stand in St Peter’s Square. Pic: Reuters
It began with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re reading the Penitential Act – a way for the faithful to confess their sinfulness.
This was followed by the Liturgy of the Word, a part in Catholic mass where faithful gather to hear and reflect on the word of God.
Cardinal Re then delivered the homily, speaking about Pope Francis’ life and service to God.
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0:52
Applause breaks out as Zelenskyy arrives
Image: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re read the homily
The cardinal praised the pontiff as someone who “touched the minds and hearts of people” who was “attentive to the signs of the times”.
He added: “Despite his frailty and suffering towards the end, Pope Francis chose to follow this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life.”
He said Francis “was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone”.
Image: Tens of thousands pack St Peter’s Square for the funeral. Pic: AP
Image: Clergy seated during the funeral. Pic: AP
At the end of the mass, the choir will sing in Latin: “May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come and welcome you and take you into the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.”
After the service, Pope Francis’s body will be taken in procession through the streets of Rome to his final resting place at his favourite church, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Image: Worshippers outside the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Pic: Reuters
He will be ushered into the basilica – dedicated to the Virgin Mary – by prisoners and migrants, a last reflection of his priorities as pope.
In a break with tradition, the Popeoutlined in his will his request to be buried “in the ground, without particular ornamentation” but simply with the inscription “Franciscus”.