The Big Picture: Extreme Earth

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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? The team spent almost eight weeks (55 days in total) camping on the tundra of Ellesmere Island. During the shoot, they went from 24 hours of daylight to days of half daylight and half darkness, within just a two-month period. They also experienced nearly every kind of weather - from sunshine, to B11 katabatic winds, torrential rain and blizzards. Few places are more extreme than the Gobi desert where temperatures can range between -30 and +40 degrees Celsius. But the snow leopard has made its home here. This rare and intimate view of a mother and cubs reminds us that the extremes still hold some of planet Earth’s greatest secrets and most spectacular natural wonders. 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. NASA Global Climate Change - Extreme Makeover: Human Activities Are Making Some Extreme Events More Frequent or Intense The heaviest hailstones on record weighed up to 1.02 kg (2 lb 3.9 oz). The grapefruit-sized hailstones were reported to have killed 92 people in the Gopalganj area of Bangladesh on 14 April 1986. Most hailstorms in a yearFeaturing the Kenyan highlands, the Great Plains of the USA and the Antarctic tundra, this whistle-stop tour of the world explores Earth’s most terrific and most terrifying climates. Temperature

IPCC Assessment Report 6 – Working Group II – Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability If you venture into the heart of the Atacama Desert (the world's driest desert), you will find the town of Quillagua; the driest place in the world. Between 1964 and 2001, the average annual rainfall was just 0.5 mm (0.002 in). Extra-terrestrial spores and suspended dust are both amongst the varied explanations for red rain. However, after analysing samples in 2015, scientists concluded that it's caused by the presence of microalgae spores from the species Trentepohlia annulata. Snow & Ice Huddling can be a survival superpower, especially in the winter cold of the Atlas Mountains. For a young barbary macaque, separated from the group, it’s vital to find and re-join the huddle before nightfall, but there is a surprising obstacle in his way. The ultimate huddle is found in the mountains of Mexico where millions of monarch butterflies are overwintering. But the calm is shattered when a storm hits their forest shelter. 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.

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Not to be confused with fire whirls, fire tornadoes are true tornadoes formed from pyrocumulonimbus clouds. Such clouds form over large sources of heat, such as wildfires or volcanic eruptions. The fastest wind speed (not surface speed) ever recorded is 302 +/- 20 mph (486 +/-32 km/h). It was produced by a large tornado near Bridge Creek, Oklahoma in May 1999. As Earth’s climate changes, it is impacting extreme weather across the planet. Record-breaking heat waves on land and in the ocean, drenching rains, severe floods, years-long droughts, extreme wildfires, and widespread flooding during hurricanes are all becoming more frequent and more intense. Although some doubts have been cast around the accuracy of this reading, a more recent temperature of 54.4°C (129.9°F) was registered in Death Valley on 16 August 2020. If confirmed to be accurate by the WMO, this will likely be recognized as the highest reliably measured temperature on record. Mt Washington, New Hampshire, USA, is the windiest place in the world. A surface wind speed of 231 mph (371 km/h) was recorded on 12 April 1934, setting the record for the fastest surface wind speed - high altitude.