**** Info via Environment Canada
2021 – A year in review
2021 was another year of worldwide extreme temperatures and extreme weather events. According to the World Meteorological Organization, consolidated data shows that 2021 was in fact, the seventh-warmest year on record.
2021 was the seventh consecutive year (2015 to 2021) where the annual global temperature was over 1°C above pre-industrial levels. In fact, this year’s average global temperature was 1.11 (± 0.13) °C above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels.
Levels of the most potent greenhouse gases, CO2 and methane, have continued to rise, and both hit record high levels in 2021. CO2 concentration in the atmosphere reached 414.3 ppm, up by 2.4 ppm from 2020 following an abrupt decline namely due to onset of government-mandated lockdowns caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Methane levels have also spiked in the last two years.
La Niña events
The back-to-back La Niña events of 2020 and 2021 meant that 2021 not only started but also ended in a La Niña cold phase. Typically, a La Niña event can decrease annual average global temperatures by 0.1-0.2°C. This back-to-back global cooling phenomenon did in fact diminish some of the annual average global warming (by approximately 0.3°C) but it still was not enough to mask the ongoing warming trend, with 2021 still coming out as one of the hottest years on record.
Extreme heat events
This year, on June 29, Lytton, BC hit 49.6°C, setting a new national record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada. During this heat wave, the inferno-like heat shattered over 1 000 daily temperature records over an 11-day period (from June 24 to July 4), with over 100 records between 40 °C and 50 °C.
Predictions for 2022
While it’s too early to tell for certain what 2022 will look like, we can say that the start of the year may experience a slight cooling influence from the ongoing La Niña (which is predicted to weaken in the spring). It is expected that beyond 2022, the global warming climate trend will continue as a result of the record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
For more: 2021 one of the warmest years on record.
