Wild weather, warming planet: See how in 2020, the fingerprints of climate change appeared around the world👇 reut.rs/2WDrDm7 via @ReutersGraphics 1/7 
The year began with wildfires raging across eastern Australia. Sparked in 2019, the blazes burned through more than 37 million acres before being extinguished in March.
Four of the five largest fires in California’s recorded history occurred in 2020 2/7
Four of the five largest fires in California’s recorded history occurred in 2020 2/7
Climate change is also making cyclones and hurricanes more intense. The last half-century has seen an increasing number of storms, powered by warmer ocean waters, develop into strong tropical cyclones 3/7
Central America was also hit hard. In November, two Category 4 hurricanes, Eta and Iota, slammed into Nicaragua in almost the same location a mere 13 days apart, damaging 44,000 homes and causing $740 million in damage reut.rs/3qqdPcw 4/7
When the Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum extent in September 2020, it was the second lowest in 42 years of satellite monitoring, according to the Boulder, Colorado-based National Snow and Ice Data Center 5/7
To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, countries have pledged under the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels — but the world saw a new record level of emissions released in 2019 reut.rs/3n0CNgw 6/7
This year, as the coronavirus pandemic halted much of the global economy, greenhouse gas emissions fell by up to 17% in April compared with the same month a year earlier – the largest drop since World War Two. But it was a temporary blip reut.rs/3hbTnYy 7/7
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