LONDON, England – The European climate agency Copernicus reported that the last seven years were the world’s hottest on record, with the first analysis of global temperature rise in 2021 about 2 degrees F above pre-industrial levels.
The assessment of the year also found carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached record levels and that the potent greenhouse gas methane surged “very substantially,” also a 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.
For example, extreme heat caused the “mother of all heatwaves” in the Western United States and Canada. Temperature records were smashed by 9 degrees 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.
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