Summer of 2021 Extreme Weather Events: Climate Super Quiz

The highest temperature ever officially recorded on the European continent is 48 degrees Celsius (118.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in 1977 in Athens, but this record may have been broken in 2021.

Highest Temperature Recorded in Europe News Fact

The highest temperature in European history appears to have been recorded in Italy during a heatwave sweeping the country, with early reports published Aug. 11, 2021, suggesting a high of 48.8C (119.85F). If the World Meteorological Organisation accepts this, it will break the previous 1977 European record.

According to the US National Weather Service in Las Vegas, Death Valley, California, had reported a temperature of 130°F (54.4°C) on July 9, 2021. WMO (World Meteorological Organisation) is currently evaluating a 130°F reading in Aug 2020 at Death Valley, which holds the world's highest temperature record.

The year 2020 is tied with 2016 for the warmest year on record since record-keeping began in 1880. Nineteen of the warmest years have occurred since 2000, except for 1998. The record warmth fueled deadly heatwaves, droughts, intense wildfires, and other environmental disasters worldwide in 2020.

On Monday evening, Jun 28, 2021, Seattle reached a new record high temperature of 108°F (42°C), according to the National Weather Service in Seattle. Monday’s heat marks the third consecutive day of more than 100 degrees as most of the Northwest continues to suffer excessive heat.

July 17, 2021, floodings in west Germany are Germany’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century.

Floods in Germany news fact:

On Sunday, July 18, 2021, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged quick financial aid and a redoubled political focus on curbing climate change. The death toll from floods in Western Europe climbed above 180.

The Dutch town of Venlo, the Belgian town of Pepinster, and the Austrian town of Kufstein were all severely damaged during the floods of July 17, 2021 - the same floods that hit the Ahrweiler area in western Germany.

Flash flooding is a sudden deluge after heavy rainfall. The flooding begins within six hours and often within three hours of heavy rain. Urban areas are particularly vulnerable to flash flooding because they have a lot of paved surfaces. The US Weather Service defines a flood as the inundation of a normally dry area with rising water from a river or stream. Flooding can last days or weeks, which is much longer than flash flooding.

London Flash Flooding News Fact

Flash flooding paralyzed London’s transport network on 12 July 2021, as around 70 mm of rainfall fell in a short space of time over a highly populated urban area. Flash flooding is different from floodings, such as the extraordinary floods that caused the deaths of more than 180 people in Germany and Belgium.

Red tides are the discoloration of the sea surface caused by harmful algal blooms.

The Gruesome Florida Red Tide

A harmful “red tide” was killing hundreds of tons of fish in Florida in the summer of 2021. At least 600 tons of marine life have been washed up on the shores of southern Florida in late June 2021. The media also reported waves of dead fish in South Tampa and St Petersburg. Environmental activists said industrial waste poured into Tampa Bay in March 2021 has worsened the annual algae bloom, killing hundreds of tons of fish and ruining Florida’s waters.

For the third year in a row, residents of northeastern Siberia are reeling from the worst wildfires they can remember. In recent years, summer temperatures in the Russian Arctic have gone as high as 100 degrees, feeding enormous blazes. Last year, wildfires scorched more than 60,000 square miles of forest and tundra, an area the size of Florida. More than 30,000 square miles have already burned in Russia this year, according to government statistics published mid-July 2021, with the region only two weeks into its peak fire season.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the world's most extensive coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands, stretching over 2,300 kilometers over an area of about 344,400 square kilometers.

Is The Great Barrier Reef "In Danger"?

On Friday, July 23, 2021, Australia was able to defer an attempt by the United Nations' cultural organization UNESCO to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef's World Heritage status to "in danger" because of damage caused by climate change. The reef has suffered significantly from coral bleaching caused by hot ocean temperatures in 2016, 2017, and 2020. The bleaching damaged two-thirds of the coral.

Euboea (or Evia) is Greece’s second-largest island, the closest to Athens, and a favorite holiday destination for the Greek capital’s residents.

Evia News Fact

According to EU wildfire data and satellite imagery provided Tuesday, August 10, 2021, more than 49,000 hectares (121,000 acres) have burned up on the northern section of Evia — by far the worst damage from any recent fires in Greece. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin, featuring numerous islands (anywhere between 1,200 and 6,000, depends on how you define an island), of which 227 are inhabited.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the state’s electric grid, put out the call on Monday, June 28, 2021, for people to conserve electricity, asking them to set thermostats to 78°F (25°C) or higher, turn off lights and avoid using large appliances. The California Flex alert features the same recommendations.