If snowy weather is making you feel the planet is getting back to its normal weather, think again.
The year 20921 was one of the seven warmest years on record, and it was also the seventh consecutive year when the global temperature hit more than 1°C above pre-industrial levels.
Weather experts ascribe average global temperatures as temporarily cooling by the 2020-2022 La Niña events but say 2021 was still one of the seven warmest years on record.
The six leading international datasets consolidated by the World Meteorological Organization show the continuation of hot weather.
Global warming and other long-term climate change trends are expected to continue as a result of record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, WMO says.
The average global temperature in 2021 was about 1.11 (± 0.13) °C above the pre-industrial era levels. The 2015 Paris Agreement between the world nations calls for all countries to strive towards a limit of 1.5°C of global warming through concerted climate action.
It’s not only years but decades that have been warmer. Since the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one, according to WMO records.
“This is expected to continue,” the agency says.
The warmest seven years have all been since 2015; the top three being 2016, 2019 and 2020. An exceptionally strong El Niño event occurred in 2016, which contributed to record global average warming.
“Back-to-back La Niña events mean that 2021 warming was relatively less pronounced compared to recent years. Even so, 2021 was still warmer than previous years influenced by La Niña”, WMO Secretary-General, Prof. Petteri Taalas, said in a statement.
“The overall long-term warming as a result of greenhouse gas increases is now far larger than the year-to-year variability in global average temperatures caused by naturally occurring climate drivers”.
“The year 2021 will be remembered for a record-shattering temperature of nearly 50°C in Canada, comparable to the values reported in the hot Saharan Desert of Algeria, exceptional rainfall, and deadly flooding in Asia and Europe as well as drought in parts of Africa and South America”, the WMO chief added.
“Climate change impacts and weather-related hazards had life-changing and devastating impacts on communities on every single continent,” Taalas says.
Other key indicators of global heating include greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat content, ocean pH levels (levels of acidity), global mean sea level, glacial mass and the extent of sea ice.
WMO uses datasets – which are based on monthly climatological data from observing sites and ships and buoys in global marine networks – developed and maintained by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA GISS), the United Kingdom’s Met Office Hadley Centre, and the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (HadCRUT); and the Berkeley Earth group.
