The Big Picture: Extreme Earth

Product Information

Oklahoma belongs to the strip of states in the Great Plains of the USA known as “Tornado Alley”. Tornadoes are more intense and more frequent here than in any other region on Earth. Farthest distance survived in a tornado Most locations are setting many, many more all-time heat records as opposed to cold records. We live in a world that is becoming more and more extreme!” – Dr. Randy Cerveny, World Meteorological Organization’s Rapporteur of Weather & Climate Extremes An astonishing 31.1 metres (102 ft) of snow fell on the Paradise region of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, USA, from 19 February 1971 to 18 February 1972. At a height of 4,392 m (14,410 ft), Rainier has a permanent covering of snow. IPCC Assessment Report 6 – Working Group II – Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability

The team spent almost eight weeks (55 days in total) camping on the tundra of Ellesmere Island. During the shoot, they went from 24 hours of daylight to days of half daylight and half darkness, within just a two-month period. They also experienced nearly every kind of weather - from sunshine, to B11 katabatic winds, torrential rain and blizzards. The past five years on our planet have been the warmest ever recorded in history. 1.2 trillion tonnes of ice are now melting each year, whilst the Atlantic Ocean unleashed more hurricanes in 2020 than ever before. NASA Global Climate Change - Extreme Makeover: Human Activities Are Making Some Extreme Events More Frequent or Intense Over the course of 24 hours, the temperature in Loma, Montana, USA swung a record 57.2°C (103°F). Reading -47.7°C (-54°F) at 9 a.m. on 14 January 1972, the temperature rose to 9.4°C (49°F) by 8 a.m. the next day. Supercells often occur in “Tornado Alley”, USA, where they can be responsible for spawning tornadoes. Longest lightning flashThe Sonoran Desert stretches across parts of Arizona and California, USA into the states of Sonora and Baja California, Mexico. It’s annual rainfall ranges from 76-500 mm (2.9-19.6 in) across different regions of the desert. Mt Washington, New Hampshire, USA, is the windiest place in the world. A surface wind speed of 231 mph (371 km/h) was recorded on 12 April 1934, setting the record for the fastest surface wind speed - high altitude. Changes to extreme weather are already happening, with greater impacts expected the more Earth warms.

The very nature of filming in the 'Extremes' means that there was never a dull moment on location. From camping 18 days underground to hiking mountains, each sequence presented its own unique challenges. As our climate changes, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and often more intense. On the plains of Kenya, an elephant mother is struggling to keep her two sons alive, and after months of drought and with food and water supplies critically low, the family are faced with tragedy. If you venture into the heart of the Atacama Desert (the world's driest desert), you will find the town of Quillagua; the driest place in the world. Between 1964 and 2001, the average annual rainfall was just 0.5 mm (0.002 in). Death Valley also holds the record for hottest month (single location). Between 1 July and 31 July 2018, the average daily temperature was 42.3°C (108.1°F), based on readings taken at a weather station near the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. Greatest temperature range in a day

Get to know us

The heaviest hailstones on record weighed up to 1.02 kg (2 lb 3.9 oz). The grapefruit-sized hailstones were reported to have killed 92 people in the Gopalganj area of Bangladesh on 14 April 1986. Most hailstorms in a year The Chinchaga Fire started in June 1950, in BC, Canada, and grew out of control, eventually dying out five months later in Alberta. It burned approximately 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) of boreal forest.

Huddling can be a survival superpower, especially in the winter cold of the Atlas Mountains. For a young barbary macaque, separated from the group, it’s vital to find and re-join the huddle before nightfall, but there is a surprising obstacle in his way. The ultimate huddle is found in the mountains of Mexico where millions of monarch butterflies are overwintering. But the calm is shattered when a storm hits their forest shelter.The fastest wind speed (not surface speed) ever recorded is 302 +/- 20 mph (486 +/-32 km/h). It was produced by a large tornado near Bridge Creek, Oklahoma in May 1999. Climate change from a human-caused rise in greenhouse gases is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Human actions since the Industrial Revolution, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, have caused greenhouse gases to rapidly rise in the atmosphere. As carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases increase, they act as a blanket, trapping heat and warming the planet. In response, Earth’s air and ocean temperatures warm. This warming affects the water cycle, shifts weather patterns, and melts land ice — all impacts that can make extreme weather worse. Theo has worked at the BBC Natural History Unit for almost 15 years, and on multiple blue chip landmark series, including Dynasties, Life Story, Planet Earth II and Seven Worlds One Planet. After studying Zoology, his BBC tv career began on the Natural World Strand researching a landmark film about British Butterflies. He then joined the expedition series Lost Land of the Tiger where the team attempted to film tigers in the dense forests of Manas National Park, Bhutan, and high in the Himalaya. For his next project, Theo travelled across 4 continents filming for Sir David Attenborough’s Life Story series. This gave him a further appetite for filming the elusive Bengal tiger. A life’s dream was realised when he worked with veteran producer Miles Barton on Dynasties – Tiger, directing over 200 days in the field. This unique opportunity led to some of the most intimate portraits of tiger family life ever filmed. After so long in the field, Theo took a career break to train as a chef before returning to the NHU and producing Planet Earth III – Extremes. Although some doubts have been cast around the accuracy of this reading, a more recent temperature of 54.4°C (129.9°F) was registered in Death Valley on 16 August 2020. If confirmed to be accurate by the WMO, this will likely be recognized as the highest reliably measured temperature on record.