Global average surface temperature in July—the hottest month of the year on average—set a new record in 2021. It's virtually certain that the year will go on to become one of the ten warmest years in the historical record.

The findings of their review of more than 14,000 studies are clear: climate change is affecting nearly every part of the planet, and there is no doubt that human activities are the cause.

February 2021 was the United States' coldest February in 30 years, but the winter overall was warmer than average. Much of the West remained in some level of drought.

Unseasonable cold in the Rockies, Northern Plains, and Great Lakes were balanced by much warmer than average conditions in the Southwest and Southeast coastal states. 

September 2020 was the hottest September on record for the globe, continuing a sweltering year. 

The soaking brought to the Gulf region by tropical cyclones in September 2020 contrasted starkly with the hot, dry conditions in the West. 

Extreme heat in the U.S. Southwest carried August 2020 into the record books as the country’s third-warmest August in the 126-year record. Despite heavy rain from landfalling tropical cyclones, national average precipitation was in the driest third of the record. 

Join three heat experts to talk about how we map, monitor, and lessen the impacts of urban heat islands.