Volcanoes are commonly found near continent borders. Volcanoes have three states: dormant, active and erupting. Dormant Volcanoes are identical to mountain tiles. A dormant Volcano may become active. Once active, they begin to glow from within, and billowing smoke from the top hints at what's to come. Active Volcanoes will eventually erupt and damage the surrounding tiles and any features or improvements on those tiles.

Improvements affected by a Volcano erupting can be pillaged or removed. Garrisons and fortifications may take damage. City Centers near an erupting Volcano may suffer population loss in that city. All is not lost, however. Each tile effected by volcanic eruptions has a chance to have an increased Food and Production yield after the eruption. Wonders are not affected by eruptions.

Geothermal Fissures are a non-removable terrain feature which add +1 Science to the tile. The standard Aqueduct and Roman Bath grant +1 Amenity when placed adjacent to a Geothermal Fissure. The Hungarian Thermal Bath grant +2 Amenities and +3 Tourism. The Geothermal Power Plant improvement must be constructed over a Geothermal Fissure.

Flooding may occur along any tile adjacent to a river. Floods have the chance to pillage or remove tile improvements, pillage buildings in districts, reduce city center population, and damage units or fortifications. Wonders are not affected by Floods. Floods may vary in severity, with more severe floods (like the 1000-year-Flood) affecting greater areas. You can prevent flooding by building a Dam along the river. Only one Dam may be constructed along a river. The Great Bath wonder prevents damage caused by Floods. After a Flood passes, there is a chance that affected tiles will have an improved Food or Production yield.

Storms have the potential to appear anywhere on the map and will persist for 3 turns. The stages of storms are Entry, Movement, and Dissipation. The type of storms that occur are dependent on the surrounding terrain. All storms have the chance to pillage or remove tile improvements, pillage buildings in districts, reduce city center population and damage units. Storm effects vary on their type:

Blizzards can occur only in Snow or Tundra tiles. They range from significant (7 tiles) to crippling (19 tiles). After a Blizzard passes, there is a chance that affected tiles will have an improved Food yield.

Dust Storms can only occur in Desert tiles. They range from gradient (3 tiles) to haboob (7 tiles). After a Dust Storm passes, there is a chance that affected tiles will have an improved Food or Production yield.

Tornados only occur in Plains and Grassland tiles. They range from family (1 tile) to outbreak (3 tiles).

Hurricanes only occur in Ocean tiles. They range from Category 4 (7 tiles) to Category 5 (19 tiles). After a Hurricane passes, there is a chance that affected tiles will have an improved Food or Production yield.

As the game progresses through the eras, Civilizations will discover Power and Consumable Resources. Using Consumable Resources to provide Power will produce CO2. As more CO2 is produced, polar ice will begin to melt causing the sea levels to rise.

Coastal terrain is displayed as one of four levels:
1 meter
2 meters
3 meters
Not affected by coastal flooding.

Each level of global CO2 that is reached raises the sea level by .5 meters. This means at Level 2 the 1 meter coastal terrain will be flooded. If a high enough level is reached 1 meter and 2 meter tiles will become submerged and become coastal water tiles. This may result in the destruction of improvements and districts on flooded tiles, and the loss of population in City Centers.

As the global CO2 increases, the chance of Storms, River Flooding, and Drought occurring increases. Also, these events are likely to be more severe than at lower CO2 levels. At the highest levels of Climate Change desertification begins to occur: Storms and Floods no longer leave behind yields and earlier fertility gains (from Volcanoes, Floods or Storms) can be lost to Storms and Droughts.

Although Nuclear Power Plants can provide your cities with Power without causing significant global warming, there is a chance that a Nuclear Accident may occur as the Power Plant ages.

Once a Nuclear Power Plant is built, it will provide Power without problems for a number of turns. As it ages, the chances that a Nuclear Accident will occur increase. You can protect yourself from this by performing maintenance on the Nuclear Power Plant as a project in the home city.

There are three levels of severity for Nuclear Accidents in increasing order of severity: Radioactive Steam Venting, Radiation Leak, and Nuclear Meltdown. When these occur, radiation leaks and tiles are subject to fallout, just as if a nuclear weapon had detonated. There is also a chance that improvements, buildings, units, and population may be damaged.

Droughts are prolonged period of reduced precipitation, where agriculture becomes more difficult or impossible, resulting in a loss of Food.

Droughts can occur in Grassland or Plains areas without features like trees, hills, or nearby rivers or coasts. The Drought will be centered on a Grassland or Plains tile, with at least four Grassland or Plains tiles adjacent that do not have any other feature. A Drought may extend to additional tiles as well, potentially affecting huge regions. Droughts become more common as global temperature increases.

A Drought will reduce the Food yield of a tile by 1. In addition, any Farms, Camps, Plantations, Pastures, and the Mekewap, Outback Station, and Cahokia Mound improvements built in the affected areas will be pillaged. There is a chance that the most severe Droughts will entirely remove these improvements!

A city with an Aqueduct, Dam, Bath District, or Stepwell improvement will not suffer the -1 Food yield during a Drought, but will still have Improvements pillaged by the Drought.

A Major Drought lasts for 5 turns, and an Extreme Drought for 10. Improvements cannot be rebuilt or replaced while the Drought is active. Droughts do not offer any benefits after they have ended.

Any tile with Woods or Rainforest can catch ablaze. The fire burns hot for three turns, destroying improvements on the tile, reducing the owning city's population, and damaging units. On the second and third turns, this fire might spread to any adjacent Woods or Rainforest tiles.

Once the fire has burned out, the Woods or Rainforest is replaced with a Burnt variant, boosting the tile's Food yield. Over the next 3 turns, it regrows until it returns to its normal state, at which point it also boosts the tile's Production yield.

Meteors may shower anywhere on land in the space between player territories, and leave behind a Meteor Site. Any unit can collect this Meteor Site, gathering the easily-accessible advanced ores in the fallen rocks, granting them a free Heavy Cavalry unit in their nearest city. This unit has no resource maintenance cost.

Solar Flares affect the entire map. The turn that they trigger, they destroy Power Plant buildings, and may damage advanced units and improvements, Power related buildings, Campus Districts, Industrial Zone Districts, and Spaceport Districts.

Comet Strikes affect four adjacent tiles, or target city centers, wiping out anything in their way and making the tile impassable.