The Big Picture: Extreme Earth

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Most locations are setting many, many more all-time heat records as opposed to cold records. We live in a world that is becoming more and more extreme!” – Dr. Randy Cerveny, World Meteorological Organization’s Rapporteur of Weather & Climate Extremes

Human actions since the Industrial Revolution, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, have caused greenhouse gases to rapidly rise in the atmosphere. As carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases increase, they act as a blanket, trapping heat and warming the planet. In response, Earth’s air and ocean temperatures warm. This warming affects the water cycle, shifts weather patterns, and melts land ice — all impacts that can make extreme weather worse. Tornadoes are much smaller than hurricanes and last for a shorter duration, however, they produce higher wind speeds. On 18 January 2003, a fire tornado formed in the plume of the McIntyres Hut Fire, part of the January 2003 Canberra fires in Australia. Radar data, footage and other weather observations confirmed that this was a true fire tornado rather than a fire whirl. Measuring nearly half a kilometre across at its base and moving at around 30 km/h, it was strong enough to toss cars, de-roof houses and scorch everything in its path. Largest forest wildfire (single fire)

As our climate changes, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and often more intense. On the plains of Kenya, an elephant mother is struggling to keep her two sons alive, and after months of drought and with food and water supplies critically low, the family are faced with tragedy. By comparison, the Sahara Desert – the world's largest hot desert – receives 100–250 mm (4–10 in) of precipitation on average annually.

Theo has worked at the BBC Natural History Unit for almost 15 years, and on multiple blue chip landmark series, including Dynasties, Life Story, Planet Earth II and Seven Worlds One Planet. After studying Zoology, his BBC tv career began on the Natural World Strand researching a landmark film about British Butterflies. He then joined the expedition series Lost Land of the Tiger where the team attempted to film tigers in the dense forests of Manas National Park, Bhutan, and high in the Himalaya. For his next project, Theo travelled across 4 continents filming for Sir David Attenborough’s Life Story series. This gave him a further appetite for filming the elusive Bengal tiger. A life’s dream was realised when he worked with veteran producer Miles Barton on Dynasties – Tiger, directing over 200 days in the field. This unique opportunity led to some of the most intimate portraits of tiger family life ever filmed. After so long in the field, Theo took a career break to train as a chef before returning to the NHU and producing Planet Earth III – Extremes. The fastest surface wind speed at sea level is 207 mph (333 km/h), recorded on 8 March 1972 at Thule Air Base, Greenland. Thule currently serves as the United States Space Force’s northernmost base. Perhaps surprisingly to some, the most hailstorms in a year occur in the Kericho Hills region of Kenya. This area receives hailstorms around 132 days each year, on average. Red rain is a phenomenon whereby red rain drops, called "blood rain" by some, fall from the sky. Cases of blood rain have been recorded throughout history, including one in Homer’s Iliad, composed c. 1260-1180 BCE.

In Vietnam, the true scale and grandeur of what’s thought to be the world’s largest cave - Hang son Doong - is revealed. In its depths, blind white cave fish are found in tiny pools of water, surviving on nutrients washed in from the jungle above. On 31 October 2019, a single lightning flash spanned a horizontal distance of 709 km (440.6 mi), from north-eastern Argentina and across southern Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean. Research says all the risks from these extreme weather events will escalate the more the planet warms. However, IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report also describes some climate change mitigation strategies, technological developments, and methods for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. How do scientists determine if changes in extreme weather events are linked to climate change?