Technologies

Wild Weather Ahead: Here’s How 2024 Is Shaping Up After the Hottest Year on Record

The climate crisis is impacting communities around the world. Here’s what to know about dealing with extreme weather in 2024.

We just lived through the hottest year since recordkeeping began more than a century ago, but before too long when we look back at 2023, it might not stand out as the pinnacle of extreme heat.

That’s because it’s unlikely to be the only hottest year that we experience. Our climate is changing, growing warmer due to the emissions from burning fossil fuels, and our weather is changing with it. It’s possible that this year may turn out to be hotter still.

In March, scientists from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said February 2024 was the hottest February according to records that stretch back to 1940. The news came on the heels of their report in early January that, as expected, 2023 was indeed the hottest year on record. Temperatures closed in on the critical 1.5-degree Celsius rise above preindustrial levels, after which we will see irreversible damage to the planet. These aren’t freak outliers: The extreme heat we’re experiencing is something we’ll need to be prepared to deal with on a much more regular basis, along with storms, floods and drought.

Later in March, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its spring outlook, predicting that most of the continental US and Alaska will see above-average temperatures from April through June. The risk of flooding, it said, will ease during the three-month period because of «historically low winter snow cover» in large parts of the country.

A key trend highlighted by the US government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment, published in November, was that climate change is provoking extreme weather events across the country that are both more frequent and more severe. It pointed to an increase in heatwaves and wildfires in the West over the past few decades, the increased drought risk in the Southwest over the past century and more extreme rainfall east of the Rockies. Hurricanes have also been intensifying, as those who have found themselves in the path of a storm know all too well.

You’ll need to be prepared. Extreme weather is going to have a widespread impact on industry, society and individuals. Last year in the US there were 25 extreme weather events with losses amounting to over $1 billion that resulted in the deaths of 464 people. People lost their homes, saw personal property damaged or suffered mental and physical health issues.

Three months into 2024, we’re staring down the barrel of another potentially record-setting hot year. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the US is now better prepared than ever and we know what steps you can take to better deal with these unwelcome events. When it comes to weather, forewarned is forearmed.

The US has been taking active steps. The Biden administration has provided funding to build resilient communities, and a new (as of September 2023) National Climate Resilience Framework, which should provide the US with a whole range of protections. These include conserving water resources, modernizing and strengthening the electric grid against weather and disasters and building infrastructure to protect communities and ecosystems from sea level rise, tidal flooding, hurricanes and storm surges.

At home and in your community, you can take steps, too, including preparing your home for wildfires and flooding and recognizing signs of heat-related health issues. This way, when wild weather comes calling, its impact on our homes, health and livelihoods is minimized.

Forecast 2024

Last year’s heat was no anomaly. It’s part of a long-term trend: The last 10 years have been the 10 warmest on record, according to NASA, with most of the Earth’s warming taking place over the last 40 years. Most forecasters are anticipating yet another year of extreme heat ahead.

«If we look at the forecast for the next three months in the long range, it’s suggesting that the trend that we’re seeing in baseline warming could continue, and so 2024 could rival 2023 for being the hottest year on record, which is very scary,» says Chloe Brimicombe, a heatwave researcher at the University of Graz.

Some of the extreme weather we experienced in the latter half of last year and will continue to experience in the first half of this year is a result of El Niño, a cyclical climate event that sees unusually warm ocean waters that has a knock-on effect of warmer temperatures and increased rainfall across the southern part of the US. For instance, temperatures in Death Valley, California, peaked at 128 degrees Fahrenheit in July, while forecasters predicted warmer temperatures in northern parts of the US stretching into February and a colder, wetter winter for Southern states.

People wading through NYC flood water, which reaches above their knees

While meteorologists are able to make long-term predictions about El Niño, other climate-related predictions are trickier. «All things told, we’re going to see an increased prevalence of heat events across the globe, but we can’t tell right now exactly where that will be,» says Andy Hoell, a climate scientist at NOAA.

What we do know, he adds, is that the climate crisis can compound events such as extreme heat or extreme rainfall to make them more likely or more severe.

In the past, it wasn’t always easy to draw direct links between extreme weather events and climate change. But huge improvements in attribution science (the ability to specifically identify emissions as the cause for unusually dramatic weather) in recent years have changed the game. The World Weather Attribution program, based at Imperial College London, has now completed nine studies on droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and heavy rainfall in North America. «Every study found that climate change made the event more intense and more likely,» says Ben Clarke, a researcher at WWA.

The speed at which climate scientists are able to identify human-caused climate change as the culprit for extreme weather has also dramatically improved. Last year alone, Climate Central was able to attribute record-breaking spring heat in the western US, and ongoing extreme heat stretching through the summer in Texas and Florida, to climate change as it was happening. «It’s much more impactful as far as our understanding of what climate change really is if we can make that connection in real time,» says Andrew Pershing, vice president of science at Climate Central, a climate science analysis non-profit.

Thanks to attribution science, we can confidently point to a heatwave we’ve experienced and say whether climate change played a role in making it happen. But it also helps us to recognize that extreme weather events we’re experiencing are part of a pattern – one that can’t be broken without tackling the root causes of the climate crisis. «Until the world moves away from fossil fuels and reduces emissions to net zero,» says Clarke, «extreme weather events in North America will continue to become more intense, more dangerous and more deadly.»

Even if you live in a region that hasn’t yet directly been impacted by a climate-linked weather event, you’re not off the hook.

«As the climate continues to warm, most areas will be at an increased risk of some types of climate-linked extreme weather,» says Russell Vose, chief of the Monitoring and Assessment Branch at NOAA’ National Centers for Environmental Information and one of the NCA’s authors. «Perhaps the best example is extreme heat – it can occur anywhere.»

He points to the scorching heat dome that descended on the Pacific Northwest in June and July 2021, which was unprecedented in the historical record. The unpredictable nature of such extreme heat means no regions are marked as safe.

In fact, a region that’s been lucky enough to not yet experience an extreme heat event is more likely to experience one in the future and suffer more greatly due to lack of preparedness, according to a study published by scientists from Bristol University last April.

Scientists are more concerned about the ability of people in areas that don’t usually get intensely hot to cope when their turn comes. «What worries me would be something in the Upper Midwest or the Northeast that just hasn’t had a major heat event for a few years,» says Pershing. «I think we kind of lose a little bit of that muscle memory.»

Weather’s unequal impacts

The weather might not discriminate when it comes to who gets hit, but that doesn’t mean its impacts are experienced equally by all groups across American society.

«Certain groups are simply more vulnerable to extreme events due to geographic, socioeconomic or demographic factors,» says Vose. He points to the extreme rainfall brought by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which led to a large number of homes being flooded in Harris County, Texas, with a disproportionate impact on low-income Hispanic neighborhoods.

When a heatwave hits, it will feel hotter in high-density urban environments that are more likely to be occupied by people of color or people living in poverty than in more spread-out neighborhoods or rural areas. Then some are homeless and can’t access health care. They have little ability to protect themselves, no matter how much warning they get about an incoming heatwave. This makes these groups much more vulnerable to the health risks of extreme heat.

Heat researchers are extremely concerned about people who live in housing not resistant to warm temperatures, says Brimicombe, who points out that those who rent are especially at risk. «If you’re a tenant, you have less ability to adapt your house to extreme heat than if you’re a homeowner,» she says. «And that also means young families, because babies are vulnerable to extreme heat.»

Not only are economically disadvantaged communities in the US more susceptible to feeling the worst impacts of extreme weather, but they have also done the least to contribute towards the climate crisis in the first place. A study published last August revealed that the wealthiest households in the US are historically responsible for 40% of the country’s climate emissions.

Meanwhile, these same households have more tools at their disposal to protect themselves from the impact of climate-related weather events. In 2019, The New York Times reported that wealthy California residents were banding together to hire private firefighters to protect them from the impacts of wildfires.

The Biden administration is well aware that marginalized and minority groups are hardest hit by climate change, including extreme weather. At the beginning of his term, the president set up the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, made up of leading experts from the US climate justice community.

Last September the group published its policy recommendations urging the government to ensure climate disasters do not further or exacerbate harm to vulnerable populations and communities.

Aerial shot of houses surrounded by flood water.

«Disaster relief should never be the cause of deepening inequality in any neighborhood, region, or Tribal community,» the council wrote in its recommendations. «When disaster hits, the goal of government should be that the people hit the hardest should emerge stronger and more secure than before, not the opposite.»

It recommended a number of measures that would help protect people in case of extreme weather including the creation of a low-cost national flood insurance and the establishment of a «Just Relocation Fund» that would provide communities hit by climate impacts with a relocation process based on a dignity framework with respect for their human rights.

The White House has yet to respond to the recommendations, but if it does act on them this would hopefully prevent a repeat of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, in which Black communities were allocated less money to rebuild their housing, resulting in a lawsuit against the federal government.

Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other initiatives, the Biden administration is investing heavily in adaptation, mitigation and resilience measures designed to protect all Americans from the impacts of climate-linked extreme weather. As with all funding, people may have to wait some time to feel the full impact of that funding. In the meantime, there are a number of steps you can take to keep yourself safe in the months ahead.

How to weather the weather, whatever the weather

Summer’s not so far off, meaning sizzling days are on the horizon.

Intense heat poses some scary risks to our health, including heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, which can be life-threatening. It’s important to familiarize yourself with the signs so that you’ll recognize them in yourself and others, and can therefore seek medical attention if necessary.

Remember that heat is more likely to adversely affect older people, children and babies, and those with preexisting health conditions. There may be cooling centers or other well-air-conditioned places in your community where you can take refuge – if you do, consider taking elderly or vulnerable neighbors with you. «Look out for friends and families,» said Brimicombe. «Don’t be complacent.»

The British writer and fellwalker Alfred Wainwright is widely credited as coining the phrase, «there’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.» Wainwright, who died in 1991, didn’t live through the kind of consistently bad weather we’re experiencing in this era of extreme heat, but that doesn’t mean we have nothing to learn from him. In the midst of a heatwave, it’s best to wear loose-fitting clothes in light colors, rather than black, which absorbs the heat.

Make sure you stay hydrated and try to spend as little time as possible outside in the sun. Try to block sunlight from warming your house, and consider buying reflectors to place in your windows that can help keep the heat out. At nighttime, take note of when it might be cooler outside than in, and use this to your advantage by opening doors and windows to let the internal temperature of your house regulate. Fans can be effective, but at very high temperatures they’re likely to just start pushing the hot air around – in which case you should, sparingly and without putting too much pressure on the grid, resort to air conditioning, or moving to your local cooling center.

People sleeping on the floor at a cooling center in Portland, Oregon

Remember that global warming is worldwide, so the same heat warnings apply even if you plan to travel to other parts of the world over the summer. The heat waves that hit the US in the summer of 2023 also impacted areas of Europe, including popular vacation spots in the Mediterranean. Countries including Greece, Spain and Italy were all affected by wildfires that resulted in the evacuation of locals and tourists alike from some areas and islands.

The surge in Europe-bound American tourists that occurred in 2023 is expected to continue this year, but if you’re planning to be among them it’s important not to travel without comprehensive insurance. Likewise, if you’re traveling in the peak months of July and August, be prepared to adjust your itinerary in case of extreme heat to ensure you’re not putting your health at risk. This may mean spending more time indoors than you’d planned for the sake of your health.

For other types of extreme weather that may hit your property such as wildfires, storms or floods, it may be useful to have an evacuation plan. You should prepare an emergency evacuation bag, also known as a go bag or a bug-out bag. Don’t forget to plan for your pets. The National Fire Protection Association has a handy guide on how to prepare your home for wildfires.

One of the easiest but most important things you can do is keep an eye on long- and short-term weather forecasts. The silver lining for people in the US, says Pershing, is that the country has great weather forecasting capabilities and the channels to communicate incoming events to people so you can prepare. «The gaps are really whether you take it seriously yourself,» he says.

So for anyone who does take it seriously, be sure to read our tips on how to prepare yourself and your home for wildfires, hurricanes, floods and storms.

Here are some additional resources:

For even more details on natural disasters and how to prepare beforehand or respond after an event takes place, check out https://www.ready.gov/.

Correction, March 15: This story originally misstated the name of the National Fire Protection Association.

Technologies

If You Miss MTV and Dunkaroos, This Indie Game Is for You

Mixtape is an upcoming game about being a teenager when «everything meant the end of the world or the start of the world.»

At a record store in northern Los Angeles, I walked past racks of albums, a DJ spinning records and a stack of Dunkaroos, a cookies and icing snack that was all the rage in ’90s America. It felt like stepping back into an earlier era, the same one backdropping the upcoming game Mixtape, a story about a group of self-mythologizing teens hanging out before life pulls them away from their suburban American town.

In an amusing twist of fate, the main brain behind the game is an Australian rocker who didn’t step foot in the US until his 30s. Johnny Galvatron (a stage name and lead singer of the band The Galvatrons), creative director at studio Beethoven & Dinosaur, dreamed up Mixtape based on a blend of American youth culture that was broadcast worldwide, along with his own upbringing loving music of the period and playing in bands.

In a recording room behind the record store, I chatted with Galvatron about why a man from the Antipodes would tackle American youth, nostalgia through the lens of music and analog audio tech, the earnest wrongness of being a teenager and why the US is like Middle-earth.

I also got to play a short slice of Mixtape ahead of the conversation, a demo I originally saw at Summer Game Fest last year (but with a couple extra scenes exclusive to this event). It opened up with the game’s older teen heroine, Stacy Rockford, skateboarding down a winding road with her friends, lazily pulling kickflips and calling out oncoming cars in the golden hour before twilight, a fitting start for a game about the last days before adulthood knocks.

From what I saw, there’s a bit of overlap with other nostalgia-laden narrative games about teens growing up, such as studio Don’t Nod’s Life is Strange series or last year’s Lost Records: Bloom and Rage. But Mixtape avoids the plotty drama of those games in favor of lionizing the humble wonder of teens killing time. And it does it in style, with kinetic editing and needle drops that immerse players in the MTV-drenched lives of kids whose rebellious days are numbered. It’s tonally different, reflecting Galvatron’s memories of being an earnest teen, liking music and tossing out strong opinions.

«There’s a lot of stories about teenagers where they’re portrayed as very shy and not confident. And that’s not really my experience of being a teenager,» Galvatron said. «I was very confident and wrong about things and about how I felt about music.»

Galvatron’s earnest teenagehood was in Australia, but setting the game there might have been too close to home. Plus, his favorite music and culture came from America. Despite not coming to the US until he was 32, he’s watched America every single day of his life, he said. Seeing it in person is like coming to a theme park, or a fantasy land: «To people who live in Western cultures, America is Middle-earth,» Galvatron said.

The game is split into chapters, each patterned after a carefully-chosen song. They all come together in the titular mixtape, the swan song of a cherished friend group, one last rock-out to tunes that speak to the moment. It was those songs that drove the creation of the emotional sequencing of Mixtape, Galvatron told me. Whereas most games start development by creating a «vertical slice» that represents the core loop of the game, Beethoven & Dinosaur made «a real shitty version of the whole game» and swapped around the songs to see what different stories the configurations told.

«We would play with that soundtrack until it seemed to have this cinematic flow to it, like a really lovely narrative that chained these songs together,» Galvatron said. «Once we had that right, we could put the story and the characters in.»

Picking the songs was a delicate process to find the right tone (and to ensure variety, as Galvatron joked he kept wanting more Devo songs, which the team vetoed and limited him to one). There’s a pivotal moment in the game where the main character Rockford is betrayed by her friend, and despite digging up the saddest songs they could think of, none worked. So they flipped the emotions to the other extreme, trying tunes evoking over-the-top happiness like Stuck In The Middle With You, and went with songs from the artist BJ Miller from the 1960s, «and that seemed to make it just all the more devastating,» Galvatron said.

I saw parts of 4-5 song chapters out of what Galvatron told me will be a total of 26 or 27. But each felt like a sublime snippet (in Pixar parlance, a core memory) that the player gets to control, from an embellished shopping cart escape from the cops to a flailing first kiss of awkward tongues to rocking out in the car on the way to a party. It sounds mundane, but these delightful moments hearken to a time in everyone’s lives when the people and the songs around you elevated the simple into the unforgettable.

«We don’t have skill trees, we don’t have (gameplay) loops. We have moments where mechanics, music, dialogue, narrative all meet and hit these crescendos,» Galvatron said, and emphasized the importance of their brevity. «Get in, deliver the mechanic, make it beautiful, make it a great experience. Don’t overstay your welcome.»

It’s undeniable that Mixtape reaches back into the past to evoke a feeling of place and time, specifically this moment in the American 90s where music was blasting from cassette tapes and CDs. There’s a warmth to this equipment, Galvatron noted, and to the music it produces. Moreover, the tactility lends itself very well to touching, spinning and clicking motions on game controllers, giving players a real feel for the music they’re playing on screen.

Yet when I asked how he felt the game fit amid our current era of nostalgia — which media like Stranger Things have built IP empires upon with period-appropriate references, fashion and songs — Galvatron asserts that the game has a different aim than prompting viewers to remember specific songs, CD players and Tamagotchis. «What I want people to remember is when you defined yourself by the singles you liked, by art, and I think that’s something naive and sweet,» he said.

If the rest of the game meets the bar set by the demo I saw, players will be pretty awestruck by the polished, electric delivery of moments from scene to scene. Mixtape feels intentionally designed, likely meticulously storyboarded, to land moments with camera angles and timing that make you feel along for the ride.

Beethoven & Dinosaur’s strengths are leaning into the grandness of cinematics and music, Galvatron said. «That’s how I remember being a teenager,» he said, «[it’s] something theatrical and fast, and everything meant the end of the world or the start of the world.»

Technologies

These MWC Phones and Gadgets Wowed Me, but Where Are They Now?

From AI hardware to wearable phones, these products promised a lot. So what happened to them?

Mobile World Congress sees the biggest and best tech companies, the world over, gather in Barcelona to show off their latest, greatest products. MWC 2026 runs March 2 to 5 and we expect to see several major phone launches, some wild concepts and a lot of tapas. But what about products we saw in prior years?

From Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S phones to incredible hardware from Xiaomi, we’ve seen some amazing devices in the years CNET has been attending the show. But we’ve also seen a lot of unusual products that have promised more than they’ve delivered.

From concept devices that are quickly forgotten to new gadgets that boast revolutionary functions, these are the MWC tech launches that arrived with a fanfare… but aren’t necessarily where you’d expect them to be today.

Humane AI pin

AI might still be the biggest buzzword in tech, thanks to every phone company cramming their devices with all kinds of bizarre AI functions. But at MWC 2024, one company wanted to take that further. The Humane AI pin was a wearable badge that you could talk to and ask questions about your schedule, the weather or things like sports results. It could read answers out and even project them onto your hand with a laser. Because everyone loves lasers.

Sounds fun, right? And the company’s rhetoric around how AI-based devices like this will replace phones sounded compelling. However, the product, well, sucked (just ask CNET’s Scott Stein, who spent extended time with it) and the company was eventually swallowed by HP, with the Pin itself ceasing to function in February last year. If you were one of the early adopters, do let us know what you’ve done with that $699(!) paperweight now.

Motorola Rizr

MWC is a great place to show off concepts that will excite technology nerds like us. Motorola has a good history of this at the show and the Rizr is one of my favorites. This phone didn’t just have a flexible display like we’ve seen on many of today’s foldable phones, its display could actually mechanically unroll at the push of a button, extending the top of the screen to give a more immersive display for watching videos or playing games.

It was amazing to see in person and it was certainly a different idea on how to use flexible displays. But that’s all it was; an idea. Motorola hasn’t deployed the Rizr’s mechanical unfurling into any of its products, with its upcoming Razr Fold launch being just a standard book-style foldable. The reason is obvious: The technology is likely expensive and probably fragile too. Three years on and Motorola hasn’t said a thing about this cool concept, but I’ll still keep my fingers crossed for this year.

Xiaomi SU7 EV

Xiaomi might be better known for its superb camera phones, but the Chinese firm has fingers in many pies, including scooters, vacuums, air fryers and, er, water pistols. It was no surprise then that during MWC 2024, the company showed off its first EV, the Xiaomi SU7. With sleek, sporty looks and a promised range of over 470 miles, I was excited.

I was excited again when the company showed off an even more performance-focused model at last year’s show, which had already delivered some blistering track times on the infamous Nürburgring. But I’ve yet to get behind the wheel. While Xiaomi is already producing and selling cars in its native China, the company has no plans to launch in the UK or wider Europe until at least 2027 and they almost certainly won’t sell in the US at all.

As a result, I feel like I’ve been teased somewhat with the promise of this slick, powerful EV that would have sat perfectly on my driveway. In reality, I still have a big wait ahead of me, if the SU7 European launch happens at all. Sales of the SU7 in China have surpassed those of the Tesla Model 3, according to a report by Car News China. Meanwhile, the same story shows that the SU7 Ultra’s sales have declined dramatically due to a number of controversies and lawsuits around the car and Xiaomi’s rollout.

Samsung Galaxy Ring

Samsung’s Galaxy Ring made for an interesting MWC in 2024. Here was a new type of wearable that promised advanced health and fitness tracking, while blending into your daily life by sitting unobtrusively on your finger. And that’s what it does, with CNET giving it a healthy 8.5 out of 10 in our full review.

But that was in 2024, and a full two years later, I’m left wondering what’s happening with the wonderful world of smart jewelry. Samsung has made no official comment around a follow-up, through rumors suggest we may see one in late 2026 or 2027. Smart ring manufacturer Oura, meanwhile, has filed a public lawsuit against Samsung and other smart ring companies claiming patent infringement. This is likely one of the reasons we’ll have to wait for a Galaxy Ring 2. While other smart rings do exist — like the Oura Ring 4 — it’s not a category that flourished after Samsung launched its ring.

There’s no Google Pixel Ring, no Apple iRing and not even an LED-infused Nothing Ring (1). Most other smart rings are made by smaller companies, such as Pebble’s recently announced $75 recyclable ring. Smart rings may have a place on our hands for a while yet, but Samsung’s lengthy delay in launching a follow-up might suggest that it’s not exactly a priority product.

Motorola wrist phone

I said that the aforementioned Moto Rizr was «one of» my favorite MWC concepts.That’s because the company’s flexible wrist phone from 2024 absolutely takes my top spot. This candybar-style Android phone had a fully flexible body that let you to wrap the whole thing around your wrist and wear it like something resembling Leela from Futurama’s wrist-mounted doodad.

I found it extremely intriguing. Here was a phone that doesn’t bulge out your skinny jeans when it’s in your pocket, but that’s also just a glance away like a smartwatch. And compared to the precision engineering required for the Rizr, the wrist phone’s technology seemed relatively achievable. After all, we already have flexible displays and this didn’t even require any specialized tiny motors — you just whack it onto your wrist like a ’90s slap bracelet.

But, like the Rizr, the wrist-mounted phone remained just a flight of fancy I experienced oh so briefly for a few days in Spain. And like any holiday romance, perhaps it’s best for me to simply remember it for what it was and not spend my days pining for what could have been.

With MWC 2026 just a few days away I’m excited to see new and wild products show their face, and I’m curious to see which of them will have staying power.