Record Heat, a Category 5, Vanishing Glaciers
What the WMO Report Reveals About Latin America's Climate

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In May 2026 the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its annual report, the State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2025. Across the region in 2025, record heat, drought, floods and ferocious hurricanes struck in succession, hitting everything from food to water security. The report warns that the impacts of climate change are stacking up, and on the eve of COP30 in Brazil it laid bare how far behind many countries' adaptation efforts remain.

Heat and Drought: A Contradiction in One Year

Mexico in 2025 captured that contradiction. At its peak, drought covered as much as 85% of the country, hitting agriculture, reservoirs and water infrastructure. Yet in the same year, June was the rainiest month ever recorded there. Heavy rain and drought running side by side within a single year is a pattern that stands out under a changing climate.

In Peru and Ecuador, floods affected more than 110,000 people, with damage spread across infrastructure. South America's farming regions recorded heat-stress losses in several countries. Andean rural communities, where high-altitude farming is a pillar of production, are especially exposed because they have few alternatives to fall back on.

A First-Ever 'Record' That Struck Jamaica

In October 2025, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica at Category 5, the most intense class. It was the first Category 5 hurricane on record to make landfall in Jamaica. According to the WMO, 45 people died and economic losses reached roughly 8.8 billion US dollars, more than 41% of the country's GDP.

A small island nation suffering losses on the scale of its entire economy from a single extreme event lays bare the climate vulnerability of the Caribbean. At the same time, the report notes that Jamaica's advance risk modelling and financial preparedness helped limit the human toll.

When the Glaciers Go, the Water Goes

The retreat of the Andean glaciers is also accelerating. The Andean glaciers are said to support drinking water, irrigation and hydropower for roughly 90 million people in South America, so their shrinking threatens long-term water security. The report notes that glacier loss has entered its fastest phase in decades.

In the highlands of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, where dependence on glacial meltwater is high, a compound pattern is emerging: seasonal water surpluses alongside chronic shortages. Short-term flood risk and long-term water scarcity are advancing at the same time, a particularly awkward combination.

A Question on the Eve of COP30

Ahead of COP30, held in Brazil in November 2025, the WMO issued the same warning in a last-minute update. In Latin America, the cost of adapting to climate change is rising as a fiscal priority for national governments.

Yet as Bolivia's fiscal crisis and Colombia's change of government show, the structure that lets short-term political and economic pressures push long-term climate investment down the list has not changed. That is why it matters to read the figures in this annual report not as a distant future risk but as a cost already being paid today.

The Author's View

Reading the report through, what stands out is that opposite disasters are striking in the same year: drought and torrential rain, too much flooding and too little water. The very width of that swing, which no single average can capture, is what today's climate risk looks like.

What also strikes me is how disproportionate the damage is relative to a country's size. For an island nation that can lose 40% of its GDP overnight, and for a large country with the means to invest in adaptation, the same 'one degree of warming' carries vastly different weight. The climate problem ultimately comes down to a question of fairness: who gets to prepare, and how much. That is how I read it.

Glossary

SIDS (Small Island Developing States) is a UN grouping of small island nations that are highly exposed to external shocks; many Caribbean countries fall within it. COP30 is the 30th Conference of the Parties to the UN climate convention, held in Brazil in 2025. Adaptacion (adaptation) is the Spanish term for adjusting societies and livelihoods to the impacts of climate change.

Climate change is not a future risk; it is a real cost that the region's farmers, coastal residents and highland communities already pay every year.

※ This article is the author’s commentary based on public information. Please confirm the latest figures, dates and procedures with governments and primary sources. Quotations are kept minimal and sources are cited.