Last Seven Years Hottest Seven Years In Weather Records; 2021 Averaged 1.2C Over Historic Average
The last seven years were the world’s hottest on record, with the first analysis of global temperature in 2021 showing it was 1.2C above pre-industrial levels. The assessment of the year, by the European climate agency Copernicus, also found carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached record levels and that the potent greenhouse gas methane surged “very substantially”, also to a new record.
The rise in greenhouse gas concentration means more heat is being trapped than ever before but 2021 ranked as the fifth hottest year on record. This is because a natural and cyclic climate phenomenon called La Niña exerted a cooling influence by bringing cold Pacific waters to the surface.
The climate crisis continued unabated with extreme weather striking across the world. Europe suffered its hottest summer on record and broke its maximum temperature record in Sicily with 48.8C, while intense wildfires raged in Italy, Greece and Turkey. Severe floods made up to nine times more likely by global heating also wreaked havoc in Germany and Belgium. Extreme heat also caused the “mother of all heatwaves” in the west of the US and Canada. Temperature records were smashed by 5C and scientists calculated the event was made at least 150 times more likely by global heating. In California, the Dixie wildfire was the second largest in history. China’s meteorological agency recently announced that 2021 was the country’s hottest year on record and that its northern region had its wettest year, with extreme weather widespread. Floods in July in Henan province caused hundreds of deaths.
Mauro Facchini, the head of Earth observation for the European Commission, said: “The 2021 analysis is a reminder of the continued increase in global temperatures and the urgent necessity to act.” The Copernicus data shows 21 of the 22 hottest years have come since the year 2000.
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/10/climate-crisis-last-seven-years-the-hottest-on-record-2021-data-shows
