Extreme Weather Events 2021

January - Snowstorms in Spain.

Madrid, and 4 other central districts, experienced the worst snowfall for 50 years, courtesy of Storm Filomena. At least 4 people were reported dead and it was estimated that the damages were in the region of £1 billion

January - Floods in Sudan

Abnormally heavy rain at the end of 2020 caused the Nile, and other rivers, to flood. Over a million people were affected and half a million actually displaced.

February - Snowfall in Texas

At $23 billion, this was the 2nd most costly winter event ever. Millions of homes were affected by power outages. The snow lasted over a week and killed 246 people

February - Cyclones in Fiji

The islands experienced three separate cyclones in the space of a month displacing 10,000 people. There was extensive damage to houses and schools, widespread floods and much of the island lost its electricity supply.

March - New South Wales, Australia

They experienced the worst floods for 60 years. 500mm rain (20 inches) fell in 3 days (half of a normal year's rainfall) 18,000 people were evacuated with 3 fatalities. Damages were estimated at being in excess of A$1 billion

April - Cyclone in Indonesia

Cyclone Seroja brought 110 mph winds followed by floods and landslides. 22,000 people were displaced and it caused 270+ deaths. 20,000 homes were destroyed.

May - Cyclone in Sri Lanka and Southern India

Cyclone Tauktae brought 140 mph winds displacing 200,000 people with 174 fatalities and 81 missing. Damages were estimated in excess of $2 billion.

May to August - Wildfires in USA

In September 2021, the National Interagency Fire Center in the US reported that they had dealt with 44,647 wildfires across a total area of 5.6 million acres of land. This was in addition to the Canadians who reported fighting 6317 wildfires across a total area of 10.34 million acres. The extreme situation had been caused by a severe drought in western US along with high spring temperatures. It was reported that more than 2,000 fire fighters were involved in fighting the blazes.

June - Heatwave in Russia

Temperatures in Moscow reached 37 degrees C, the highest for 120 years. However, it was not just Moscow that was experiencing record temperatures. An area called Yakutia, which is 2500 miles north east of Moscow and inside the Arctic Circle, recorded a temperature of 31 degrees. The ground temperature in Siberia reached 35 degrees.
These temperatures have a serious knock on effect of causing floods and forest fires and melting permafrost, which releases even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

June and July - Wildfires in Siberia

Following extended unusually hot and dry weather conditions, wildfires affected 1,500,000 hectares. It is estimated that more land was affected than all the rest of the fires in the world put together. Smoke reached Alaska and the North Pole for the first time in history. It has been estimated that this was the single most damaging extreme climate event of 2021 because of the effect it could have on melting permafrost and releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

June to August - Floods in China

There were many incidents of heavy rainfall throughout the summer in many different regions of China. 644mm (25inches) of rain fell in 24 hours in Henan province, which is equivalent to a whole year's worth. There were more than 400 deaths and 1.4 million houses affected. A lot of infrastructure was damaged including bridges and damns.

June to October - Monsoon and Floods in Nepal

Heavy rainfall, including 300mm of rain falling in a single day, caused many rivers to break their banks causing flash floods, landslides and 180 deaths. Wildfires had previously reduced vegetation which added to the flows of water. Large amount of crops were destroyed, over 2000 homes inundated and the airport was closed.

July - Heatwave in North America

A new World Record temperature was set in Death Valley, California (54.4 degrees C) plus new record high temperature of 49.6 degrees in Canada. There were new record highs on 3 consecutive days, ending up with a new record 4 degrees higher than previous record. (1937). There were 500+ deaths reported and the heatwave was followed by fires.

July - Floods in Northern Europe

The floods were widespread across Europe affecting many countries but Germany & Belgium were the worst hit. They were the worst floods since 1985. There was a total of 240 deaths and widespread damage that was estimated to have cost in excess of £30 billion. It was the most expensive disaster in European History. It was caused by excessive rainfall causing the banks of a number of rivers to burst. There were widespread power outages with 200,000 homes being left without power and many people were forced to abandon their homes.

August - Drought in California, USA

This was the hottest and driest August on record plus the worst drought since 1800s. Drought conditions had been experienced for some years. 100% of both California and Nevada experienced some sort of drought, with 88% of California experiencing extreme drought.

August - Wildfires in California USA

The wildfire season in Western US worsened in August. There were over 8,000 fires damaging 3600 buildings and 2.5 million acres of land.

August - Heatwave and Wildfires in Italy

Intense heatwaves and fires across the Mediterranean throughout the summer culminated in a new European record high temperature of 48.8 degrees in Sicily. Fire fighters attended 300 incidents in a single day.

August - Wildfires in Greece

Greece experienced a new record high temperature of 47.1 degrees and the heatwave caused a number of wildfires. There were 3 deaths, 20 injured and 2000 evacuated. 125,000 hectares of land was affected.

August - Hurricane in Cuba and Eastern USA

Hurrican Ida brought 150 mph winds, which was followed by floods. It was one of the worst storms ever to hit the USA. There were over 100 deaths and more than $65 billion damages affecting 7 states. Over 1 million homes lost power.

November & December - Storms in the UK

Two named storms (Arwen and Barra) brought 100 mph winds and snow causing over a million homes to lose power, with 100,000 people without power for several days. Rare red weather warnings were issued. There were 3 deaths, a great deal of damage to houses and infrastructure and thousands of trees were lost.

December - Tornadoes in USA

There were a number of unseasonal tornadoes on 2 separate days. There were about 70 separate tornadoes in Kentucky which killed 90 with about $4 billion damages. The maximum wind speed was 190 mph. They caused 89 fatalities.

December - Typhoon in Philippines

Typhoon Rai brought up to 120 mph winds. It caused 7 million people to lose their homes. Almost a million homes were damaged or destroyed. There were over 400 deaths and an estimated $1 billion in damages. It was followed by widespread floods.

EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS 2021