The photos before and then show the destruction of climate change »Yale climatic connections

From mortal forest fires to ice layers, the signs of climate change are everywhere. These photos show the effects of climatic disasters, all of which become more dangerous as global temperatures heat up. Behind each photo there are hundreds or billions of lives affected by the immediate and cascade of the disaster, such as infections transmitted by water after floods, energy cuts after important storms and respiratory diseases aggravated by smoking air.

Forest fires spark in Los Angeles hills

In January 2025, forest fires extended through the hills surrounding Los Angeles, consuming on 16,000 structures and kill at least 28 people.

The risk of forest fires is increasing in southern California and much of the western climate change in the United States is making forest fires. bigger and more intense. A study Due to the global climate, an organization that investigates how weather events are affected by climate change, reported that climate change caused fires to be 35% more prone to occur.

These photos show the Getty Villa Museum in the Pacific Palisades area of ​​Los Angeles on a typical day in 2016 and during the 2025 forest fires.

(Image credit: before Kameraworld / Getty Images; after the photo of Apu Gomes / Stringer / Getty Images)

Read: Incribes and climate change: What is the connection?

Hurricane Ian leaves a path of destruction on the island of Sanibel, Florida

Hurricane Ian touched land in southwest Florida at the end of September 2022. The storm He killed 149 people in Florida and caused a $ 119.6 billion in damage.

Climate change is making hurricanes more dangerous. A study of the United States Department of Energy reported that climate change increased extreme rain of Hurricane Ian by 18%, which “was very important for what would be expected.”

The satellite images below show Sanibel Island in Florida before and after Ian ran.

(Image source: both photos Through USGS / Public domain)

Read: How climate change is making hurricanes more dangerous

Visible Foundation of the Greenland ice layer

Greenland is home to the world’s second largest ice body, Greenland’s ice layer. The Arctic region is Faster heating That any other already measured, the ice layer is melting.

If the entire ice layer melted in the ocean, the worldwide sea level would increase and estimated 7.2 meters (24 feet). Only three meters (10 feet) of the increase in sea level would put the main coastal cities such as Miami and Mumbai under water.

These satellite images show how the northern part of the ice layer has melted and weakened between 1987 and 2019. In the image of 2019, the blue color shows where the merger water is stagnating on the ice surface. The area of ​​the fusion water covered at the end of July 2019 totaled almost 1 million square kilometers (386,000 square miles) According to NASA. That is more than 100,000 square miles larger than the state of Texas.

(Image credit: both photos Through USGS / Public domain)

Read: Increased sea level, explained

On the envelopes of New York City as Canadian forest fires burns

Record forest fires burned more than 17 million hectares (42 million acres) of Canadian forests during the summer of 2023. The smoke of the fires arrived to Europe.

In early June 2023, finished 100 million people in the United States He lived in areas with poor air quality alerts due to smoke. New York City was wrapped in an orange fog and had the The worst air quality of any city in the world.

The photos below show the statue of freedom on a clear day in 2019 and in Smoky on June 7, 2023.

(Image credit: Before David Dee Delgado / Stringer / Getty Images; after Bruce Bennett / Staff / Getty Images)

Read: Air quality resources

Lake Mead dries during the west of the United States

The Colorado River basin has been experiencing an intense drought since 2000. Climate change is making droughts more severe, frequent and longer In the already southwest arid of the United States

Lake Mead, the deposit formed by the Hoover dam near Las Vegas, offers water opportunities, hydroelectric energy and recreation for the region. Between 2001 and 2015, the level of the deposit fell More than 120 feet. The images below show Lake Mead at the beginning and end of that period.

In the 10 years since 2015, the southwest has continued to fight with the drought. At the end of July 2022, Lake Mead fell to his MORE LEVEL OF THE WATER since the deposit was filled. Despite record rain In the winter of 2024, as of March 2025, the megadroto in the southwest is ongoing.

(Image credit: both Through USGS / Public domain)

Read: Climate change and droughts: What is the connection?

Climate action can save lives

Although climate change is making the extreme climate more dangerous, there are many ways in which people and communities can prepare. Each degree of global warming that is avoided by reducing pollution can help.

To discover how to reduce their contamination, Check out our solution center.

To obtain tips for preparation and adaptation of the extreme climate, see Our extreme climate center.