(NEW YORK) -- Devastating wildfires, flooding and extreme heat events took place over the past year, several resulting in mass fatalities, with experts linking some of the worst events to human-amplified climate change.
Fueled by severe drought conditions and Santa Ana winds, the Palisades and Eaton fires both erupted on Jan. 7, eventually spreading more than 37,000 acres over the course of 24 days.
Celebrities including Billy Crystal, Paris Hilton, Mandy Moore and Eugene Levy were among the residents who lost their homes in the wildfires.
Texas Hill Country is often colloquially referred to as "Flash Flood Alley" because the weather and landscape in the south-central Texas region have a tendency to produce rapid flood events, according to the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI). The "alley" stretches from Dallas to San Antonio and encompasses the Colorado and Guadalupe River basins.
Climate change is likely to make extreme weather events, like the flash flooding in Texas, occur more intensely and frequently, climate scientists told ABC News in July in the aftermath of the floods.
Tornado outbreaks in Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia in mid-May killed at least 28 people, according to officials.
Although no hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. in 2025, Hurricane Melissa became one of the most powerful hurricanes on record to make landfall in the Atlantic basin, ranking with Hurricane Dorian (2019) and the "Labor Day" hurricane (1935) for the strongest sustained winds at landfall.
Hurricane Melissa devastated the island of Jamaica, destroying entire communities, and killed dozens of people.
Europe is fastest-warming continent on planet, heating up twice as much as the global average since the 1980s, according to a 2023 report by Copernicus, European Union's climate change service, and the World Meteorological Organization.
ABC News' Weather and Climate Unit contributed to this report.