Zombie Fires and Historic Hurricanes: The 8 Wildest Weather Events of Summer 2025

This year has produced some really wild weather. And when I say wild, I mean truly unexpected, record-breaking, extreme events that defied our understanding of Earth’s climate system.

To be fair to the scientists who spend their lives trying to predict the weather, it’s hard to understand something that’s undergoing rapid, unprecedented, human-driven change. To try and grasp at some meaning, however, we’ve compiled a list of the eight wildest weather events from the last few months. Every event on this list was fueled by rising global temperatures, underscoring the many ways that human-driven global warming is messing with the climate.

Historic Hurricane Erin

Hurricane Erin, the first major hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season, will also be remembered as one of the fastest-strengthening on record. In fact, it had the most rapid intensification rate for any storm occurring earlier than September 1.

On August 15, Erin was a Category 1 hurricane swirling northeast of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea. Just 24 hours later, it exploded into a “catastrophic†Category 5. This kind of raid intensification is becoming increasingly common thanks to climate change, as rising sea surface temperatures fuel storms with more heat and moisture.

Very fortunately, Erin never made direct landfall in the U.S.—its eye remained at least 200 miles away from land as it tracked up the East Coast. Even so, this unusually large storm brought significant coastal impacts to many communities, most notably the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Tropical storm force winds extended more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) out from Erin’s eye, fueling storm surges and rip currents along the entire coast.

Canada’s zombie fires spark an early wildfire season

Canada is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons on record, with more than 20 million acres (8 million hectares) of forest burned since May. This year’s season got off to an early and intense start due to “zombie fires,†burns that reignited as temperatures rose in late spring. These overwintering fires—also known as holdover fires—can smolder deep underground for years, sustained by carbon-rich soils like peat.

Incredibly, some of the zombie fires that helped kick off Canada’s 2025 wildfire season have been burning since 2023, according to NOAA. These underground fires are a natural—but increasingly concerning—fixture of Canada’s boreal forests. Rising global temperatures are drying out the soils that fuel zombie fires, in turn causing them to occur more frequently. This, in turn, extends the wildfire season.

Unprecedented European heatwaves

Europe experienced some of its highest temperatures on record in June and early July, with two extreme, back-to-back heatwaves that shut down tourist attractions, sparked wildfires, and killed thousands, according to at least one estimate.

These events were so deadly partly because air conditioning is still a rare commodity in Europe. Historically, there just hasn’t been much need for it. The continent has always experienced heatwaves, but not to the extremes it sees now as a result of climate change.

This summer, record-breaking temperatures were widespread across western and southern Europe, with the west experiencing its warmest June on record, according to data collected by the Copernicus satellites. During another heatwave, which lasted from June 30 to July 2, temperatures topped 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in several countries and reached 115°F (46°C) in Spain and Portugal.

An Atlantic hurricane drought

After Hurricane Erin weakened into a post-tropical cyclone, it took a startling 20 days for the next Atlantic cyclone—Gabrielle—to form on September 17. This kind of lull during the peak of hurricane season is unprecedented. By the time Gabrielle took shape, the Atlantic basin’s overall storm activity was already 50% below average.

Since then, storm activity has ramped up, with two more hurricanes swirling into existence: Humberto and Imelda. None have made direct landfall in the U.S., so far. In May, NOAA forecasters predicted an “above-normal†number of storms for this year, suggesting that the worst of hurricane season has yet to come.

A cloud tsunami in Portugal

That’s not a tsunami barreling toward the shoreline, it’s actually a “roll†cloud. In the midst of the second brutal heatwave that gripped Europe this summer, this rare sight formed over ocean waters just off the coast of Portugal. The Associated Press shared a video of the spectacle on Youtube.

These massive, wave-like clouds form when cool, moist air over the ocean rolls in to meet warm, dry air over land. This meeting leads to rapid condensation combined with air flowing in different directions above and below the cloud, creating a tubular shape. These clouds typically appear to roll around a horizontal axis, hence the name.

Black rainstorms in Hong Kong

Hong Kong experienced its heaviest rainfall since 1984 in August, with four storms triggering back-to-back “black†warnings over the course of just eight days. According to the Hong Kong Observatory, a black warning signals the most severe conditions, indicating that heavy rain is likely to cause serious road flooding, traffic congestion, and trigger a government response.

When the fourth storm hit on August 5, more than 13.8 inches of rain drenched Hong Kong within hours, local weather officials said, according to Reuters. The deluge shut down hospitals, courts, and schools across the special administrative region.

About 80% of Hong Kong’s rain falls between May and September, according to the Hong Kong Observatory. Yet even during the wet season, this kind of relentless downpour is unusual. Extreme rainfall and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change poses a growing challenge for mainland China, with recent storms leading to significant financial losses and public safety risks.

Tropical Storm Andrea

The Atlantic’s first named storm of 2025 formed farther to the northeast than any named storm for June on record. Andrea came together in the central Atlantic between Bermuda and the Azores Islands on June 24, tracking east-northeast.

Above-average sea surface temperatures made Andrea’s unusual formation possible. At the time, the waters below this storm were the warmest of anywhere in the Atlantic—roughly 3.6°F (2°C) above average. Interestingly, these waters were still far cooler than the standard threshold for tropical storm development: 79°F (29°C). This strange, historic storm was very short-lived, dissipating just 12 hours after it formed.

A June downpour in the desert southwest

Rare June thunderstorms dumped flooding rain and delivered nearly 10,000 lighting strikes across a wide swath of the southwestern U.S., the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Some California desert cities, which typically receive little to no rain in June, got hit with more than a month’s worth in under an hour.

Some 1.3 inches of rain fell in Needles, a city in San Bernardino County, on June 3, making it the wettest June day in the city’s history. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning after nearly an inch of rain fell in 30 minutes. The monster storm stretched all the way to Grand Canyon National Park, where hikers became stranded as 2 to 4 inches of rain drenched the area.

June rainfall is unusual for the desert regions of California, Arizona, and Nevada. This event was triggered by the combination of an upper-level low pressure system near Baja California with moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Alvin, according to the NWS. Climate change will increase the odds of unusual rainfall events in the desert southwest, as rising temperatures allow the atmosphere to retain more moisture.