The year 2022 reached several maximum temperature records in Europe, such as in Pinhão (Portugal), where our weather archive shows a maximum temperature of 43°C.
When looking at Europe in July 2022, the temperatures deviated from the average by up to 4°C last year. The map shows the temperature anomaly for July 2022, which compares the 2022 temperatures to the 30 years average. You can continuously compare the current temperatures to the long-term average with our temperature anomaly weather map. Another tool for analysing such events is our Season to Climate Comparison that shows in detail that the monthly average temperature for Pinhão in 2022 was significantly higher than the average.
Those high temperatures were also observed outside of Europe, especially in India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where extreme heat waves were observed in May 2022 as shown on the historical temperature map.
The historical temperature map shows that temperatures of significantly more than 40°C were already reached in May. In some places it was up to 44°C. Comparing these temperatures with the average climate there, the heat wave is recognisable. The climate for this region shows maximum temperatures of around 35°C. In May 2022, however, the maximum temperatures reached 41°C, and also compared to the peaks of the last year, 2022 reached higher temperatures as our weather archive shows. Changes in meteorological observations are not uncommon, especially because of climate change that promotes extreme weather events, which can influence temperature or precipitation patterns causing extreme heat, droughts or heavy rainfall.
Besides the temperature extremes, 2022 was also marked by several heavy rainfall events resulting in floodings. For example, in Brazil, Yellowstone National Park, the US state of Kentucky or Australia experienced heavy rainfalls in March 2022. The monthly precipitation map shows the high precipitation amounts on the East coast of Australia.
Not all places in the world received the same level of rainfall, however. Arica in Chile stands out with notably low precipitation amounts, as our historical precipitation data prove. In the long-term climate data, there are usually precipitation sums of around 65 mm. In 2022 however, the total precipitation sum was only 3.6mm, as documented our weather archive.
Next to climate change, the weather can be driven by specific weather patterns occurring every few years. One is called La Niña, a weather pattern over the Pacific Ocean. Since September 2020 until now, conditions speaking for this event have been observed. Usually, winds carry warm surface water from South America to Indonesia, causing cold deep water to rise at the coast of Central and South America. During La Niña, these effects are intensified. As a result, rain clouds are forming, especially over warm water, resulting in above-average precipitation amounts in East Australia and Indonesia and below-average precipitation amounts in the southwestern US and West Central and South America. In the case of Chile, already suffering from climate change, these weather conditions sum up to low precipitation amounts, as above-documented.
In contrast, the historical precipitation data for 2022 in Hawaii at Mount Wai'ale'ale reached after 2021 again a high annual precipitation sum. High precipitation values were frequently measured there in 2022 as can be seen in the screenshot that shows the annual precipitation sums since 1985, which can be accessed through our history+ interface.
Rain, in the case of Kuaia, is caused by air masses brought by winds over the Pacific moving north and south during the year, usually bringing more rain masses during winter. But even here, since Hawaii lies directly in the center of the La Niña oscillation, rainfall is likely to have been influenced by this weather pattern during the past two years causing above-average rain amounts.
At the end of 2022, winter storm "Elliott" moved across Canada and the United States and caused massive damages due to strong wind speed and heavy snow falls amounts. You can easily detect extreme weather events in our weather archive, like in the sample for Toronto, Canada.
Elliot is another example of a bomb cyclone, in which the pressure of a low-pressure system drops dramatically within 24 hours. It originated as a cross-country storm in the Pacific Northwest. High-pressure occurrences over the Rocky Mountains favoured arctic air masses to move gen southeast, bringing blizzarding conditions and colliding with warmer air masses over North America. Finally, air pressure dropped quickly, and the storm intensified.
We hope this gives a short overview of the most extreme events of the meteorological year 2022, and we would be delighted if you explore our wide range of analysis tools. What was your meteorological highlight in the year 2022?
