Cyclone Zelia, a Category 5 storm, brought destructive winds reaching 320 km/h and heavy rainfall to the region. The cyclone caused significant damage, including flash flooding, infrastructure destruction, and widespread disruptions. Authorities issued emergency warnings, closed schools, ports, and roads, and set up evacuation centers to assist affected residents. In addition to the immediate impacts, Cyclone Zelia disrupted operations in the Pilbara region's mining sector. Major iron ore producers such as BHP, Rio Tinto, and Fortescue paused port operations at Port Hedland, Dampier, and Cape Lambert to ensure worker safety. The storm’s rapid intensification and severe impacts highlight the increasing intensity of tropical cyclones in the region, potentially linked to climate change.

Climameter found that cyclones similar to Zelia today are up to 1 hPa deeper, up to 27 mm/day (up to 20%) wetter, and up to 5 km/h (up to 10%) windier compared to past conditions. Additionally, temperatures in affected regions are up to 2ºC colder than in the past. The study, which analyzes changes in weather patterns from 1950–2024, concludes that the extreme precipitation and wind associated with Cyclone Zelia are mostly attributable to human-induced climate change, with natural climate variability playing a minor role.

Image: MODIS Satellite

Storm Éowyn, an exceptionally powerful extratropical cyclone, struck Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the United Kingdom on January 24, 2025. Named by the UK Met Office on January 21, 2025, it was the fifth storm of the 2024–25 European windstorm season. Éowyn displayed unprecedented wind speeds, with sustained wind above 80 mph (135 km/h) and gusts reaching up to 135 mph (217 km/h) in Cairnwell, Scotland, making it comparable to a category 1 hurricane, leading to widespread red weather warnings across the affected regions. The impact of Storm Éowyn was devastating. Over 1 million people in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland were left without electricity and sustained significant property damage, including the collapse of a 100-year-old building in Hale, Manchester, and the fall of a 166-year-old Himalayan cedar at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. 

Climameter found that windstorms similar to Storm Éowyn are more intense with up to 4 hP deeper, up to 8 km/h  (10%) windier over the Atlantic coasts of Ireland and France, and up to 6 mm/day (up to 15%) wetter in the present than they would have been in the past. We interpret Storm Éowyn as an event driven by rare meteorological conditions whose characteristics can be mostly ascribed to human-driven climate change.

Image: source BBC news  

Extreme thunderstorms associated with high-level depression (DANA, in Spanish) hit the eastern Spanish coast, leading to unprecedented rainfall, with up to 630 mm recorded in Toris, Valencia, over 24 hours. The Valencian Community bore the brunt of these catastrophic events, facing severe floods, hailstorms, and tornadoes that resulted in over 200 deaths, dozens of missing persons, and widespread devastation, especially in Valencia, Castellón, Málaga, and Albacete

We conclude that depressions similar to the DANA that cause floods in southeastern Spain are up to 7 mm/day (an increase of up to 15%) wetter over the Mediterranean coast of Spain in the present than they would have been in the past.  Additionally, conditions are up to 3°C warmer in the present compared to the past, which favors the formation of thunderstorms over the Mediterranean basin during DANA events. We interpret this DANA as an event driven by very exceptional meteorological conditions, whose characteristics can mostly be ascribed to human driven climate change. We remark that, for this event, we have low confidence in the robustness of our approach given the available climate data, as the event is  very exceptional in the data record. To ensure robustness of our findings, we have increased the statistics of analogues to include 20 similar events in past and present periods.

Image: AP photo Manu Fernandez