A shallow M6.0 earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan on August 31, 2025, left more than 2 200 people dead and nearly 7 000 homes destroyed, according to the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority. The World Health Organization reported nearly 3 000 deaths and 4 000 injuries.
Indonesia’s Geological Agency raised the alert status of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki in East Flores to Level IV (Awas) at 10:00 WITA on September 6, 2025, due to increased seismicity, continuous tremor, and deformation indicating shallow magma ascent.
Severe storms swept Through Knoxville, Tennessee on September 4, 2025, damaging dozens of hangars and planes at the Sky Ranch Airport. The storm also knocked out power for over 7 000 customers as it downed trees and power lines across Knox County.
NASA released the first results of James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on August 25, 2025, showing a coma dominated by carbon dioxide. The comet was observed on August 6, and complementary data from Hubble and SPHEREx confirm unusual volatile ratios.
A heat burst struck Spain’s Costa Tropical on August 17, 2025, prompting beach evacuations in Motril, Salobreña and Torrenueva Costa as the temperature spiked to 40.1°C (104°F) and wind gusts reached 87 km/h (54 mph), according to AEMET and local authorities.
An unusually strong summer atmospheric river made landfall over the Pacific Northwest late on August 14, 2025, reaching AR 3 along the Washington coast and producing 75–200 mm (3–8 inches) of rain across parts of western Washington.
Sydney has recorded more than 9 300 mm (366 inches) of rain since January 2020, marking the highest six‑year total since systematic measurements began in 1858.
A weak La Niña and signs of a disrupted polar vortex are forecast to shape colder-than-average winter conditions across the northern United States, southern Canada, and parts of Europe during the 2025/26 season. Early seasonal outlooks suggest a higher likelihood of Arctic air intrusions and persistent cold anomalies from December 2025 through February 2026.
New research published on August 6, 2025, in JAMA estimates that 440 excess deaths occurred in Los Angeles County, California, from January 5–February 1, 2025, due to the Palisades and Eaton wildfires, compared with 30 direct deaths officially reported.
Global natural disasters caused an estimated USD 135 billion in economic losses in the first half of 2025, with insured losses reaching USD 80 billion. This was driven largely by January wildfires in the Los Angeles area that generated about USD 40 billion in insurance claims, according to Swiss Re Institute.
