Global Climate 2021...

The global surface temperature for 2021 was the sixth highest since record keeping began in 1880, according to NOAA scientists. A separate analysis of global temperature data reveals that 2021 tied with 2018 as the sixth-warmest year on record (NOAA, 2022).

Most recently, the globe heated through a November that ranked as the fourth warmest in 142 years and the Northern Hemisphere saw its warmest land temperatures on record for meteorological autumn, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). December’s global surface temperature tied with 2016 as the fifth highest in the 142-year record (NOAA, 2022).

The year 2021 began with an episode of cold phase, also known as La Niña, across the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, which had developed in August 2020. Although the monthly global temperatures were above average throughout the year, February 2021 was the coldest month of 2021. Global temperature departure for February 2021 was +0.64°C — the coolest February since 2014. However, after the month of February, temperatures were at 0.80°C or higher for the remaining months of 2021 (NOAA, 2022).

2021 culminated as the sixth warmest year on record for the globe with a temperature that was 0.84°C above the 20th century average. The years 2013–2021 all rank among the ten warmest years on record. 2021 was also the 45th consecutive year (since 1977) with global temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th century average. Overall, the global annual temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.08°C per decade since 1880 and over twice that rate (0.18°C) since 1981 (NOAA, 2022).
____
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-climate-202112
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202113
https://www.noaa.gov/news/2021-was-worlds-6th-warmest-year-on-record
https://www.noaa.gov/news/november-2021-was-earths-4th-warmest-on-record