From destruction to deadly heat, Associated Press photographers capture climate change in 2024

After heat records were smashed and a torrent of extreme weather events rocked countless countries in 2023, some climate scientists believed that the waning of the El Nino weather pattern could mean 2024 would be slightly cooler.

It didn’t happen that way.

This year is expected to break 2023’s global average temperature record and the effects of the warming — more powerful hurricanes, floods, wildfires and suffocating heat — have upended lives and livelihoods.

All year, Associated Press photographers around the globe have captured moments, from the brutality unleashed during extreme weather events to human resilience in the face of hardship, that tell the story of a changing Earth.

January: Experiencing a changing world

As seas rise, salty ocean water of the Pacific encroaches on Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, hurting agriculture and the farmers and sellers who rely on it. Life for those on the Mekong now – paddling across markets and working and sleeping from houseboats – is quickly being altered. In Tahiti, the arrival of the Paris Olympics this year meant giant structures were built on one of their most precious reefs. The reefs sustain the life of sea creatures and in turn, the people of the island.

February: Farming against tougher odds

In many parts of the world, there were impacts when agriculture intersected with climate change. In Spain and other European countries, farmers were upset over increasing energy and fertilizer costs, cheaper farm imports entering the European Union and pesticide regulations, arguing all these changes could force them out of business. In Kenya, access to water continued to be a struggle for many, while fishers off the Indian coast of Mumbai had to contend with a rapidly warming Arabian Sea. There were bright spots, however, such as the...