Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our newsletters.
Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Processing… Success! You're on the list.Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.
The most extreme heat wave in modern history, a record four $20 billion-plus weather disasters, and the hottest month on record globally highlighted a remarkable year in weather and climate.
by Jeff Masters January 11, 2022 April 4, 2022
The year 2021 made an indelible mark in the annals of weather history. Not only did it feature the most extreme heat wave in history – the late June heat wave over western North America that smashed all-time records by unprecedented margins – it also had four weather mega-disasters costing over $20 billion each, tied with 2017 for the most such disasters on record.
The climate is changing, and our journalists are here to help you make sense of it. Sign up for our newsletters and never miss a story.
A total of eight extreme weather events were ranked in the top ten; in addition, there were two concerning climate change discoveries that may presage serious future challenges. Below is a list of the top-10 weather and climate change events of 2021, as rated by the impacts on humans and/or meteorological significance.
Never in the century-plus history of world weather observation have so many all-time heat records fallen by such a large margin than in the historic late-June 2021 heat wave in western North America. The intense heat wave was the second-deadliest weather disaster of the year, with 1,037 deaths: 808 in western Canada and 229 in the northwestern U.S. The only deadlier weather disaster of 2021 was summer monsoon flooding in India that claimed 1,292 lives, according to insurance broker Aon.
Two examples of the insane extremity of the heat wave:
• Canada broke its all-time national temperature record on three consecutive days at Lytton, British Columbia, which topped out at a stunning 49.6°C (121°F) on June 29 – a day before the town burned down in a ferocious wildfire fed by the extreme heat. The old Canadian heat record was 8°F cooler, 45.0°C (113°F) on July 5, 1937.
• Quillayute, Washington, broke its all-time high by a truly astonishing 11°F, after hitting 110°F on June 29 (old record: 99°F on August 9, 1981). Quillayute is located near the lush Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula, just three miles from the Pacific Ocean, and receives an average of 100 inches of precipitation per year.
