The landscape around Italy's river Po dried out during the summer of 2022. The summer of 2022 was like no other across swaths of western and central Europe. The proverbially rainy England didn't see a drop of rain in weeks.
2. PAKISTAN SEES WORST FLOODS IN HISTORY
While water levels in European rivers were hitting record lows, the mountainous Pakistan in southwestern Asia struggled with the exact opposite problem. From June to October 2022, vast areas of the country were submerged in flood waters.
3. HURRICANE IAN BATTERS FLORIDA AND FIONA MAKES LANDFALL IN CANADA
Hurricane Ian seen from the International Space Station. The Atlantic hurricane season of 2022 started late. For the first time in 25 years, not a single named tropical storm emerged above the Atlantic Ocean in the month of August.
4. FREDDY, THE LONGEST-LIVED TROPICAL STORM EVER, PUMMELS WEST AFRICA TWICE
Cyclone Freddy above Madagascar. Tropical storm Freddy(opens in new tab) received much less media attention than Ian and Fiona when it rampaged western Africa in February and March 2023. From a weather disaster perspective, however, Freddy was a storm of a kind never seen before.
5. ANTARCTIC SEA ICE HITS RECORD LOW
Seasonal variations in the extent of Antarctic sea ice. Bad news arrived in February from scientists monitoring the Antarctic ice cap. The extent of floating sea ice surrounding the frosty continent shrank to a record low as the southern summer peaked, to only 66% of the levels usually present at this time of the year.