Nearly a quarter of the world’s population experienced a record hot year in 2021, as the climate crisis continues to unleash escalating temperatures around the globe, according to new data from leading US climate scientists. Despite not being the hottest individual year on record, 2021 did contain a number of extraordinary signs of climate breakdown. July last year was the world’s hottest month ever recorded, with Death Valley in California recording what may be the hottest temperature ever reliably measured during this month, at 54.4C (130F). A total of 25 countries, including China, Nigeria and Iran, recorded a record warm annual average in 2021. “No one lives at the global average temperature,” said Robert Rohde, lead scientist at Berkeley Earth.

Source: The Guardian January 13, 2022 20:14 UTC