Global warming has been impacting the planet in recent decades and is leading to more frequent and intense hydrometeorological events such as storms, floods, heatwaves, and droughts. Eastern Canada experienced a very strong heatwave in the spring, California, Greece, Algeria, Russia and other countries saw extreme forest fires while other countries like Germany faced the challenges of responding to floods and debris flows with an estimated period of return of nearly 800 years.
According to scientists from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States; 2021 equaled 2018 as being the sixth warmest year since 1880. They used data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on board the Aqua satellite and in-situ data from ground stations as well as from ships and buoys at sea. Additional information from NOAA on this topic is available here. More information on this topic from NASA is available here.
