According to a report from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), nearly 700 people died throughout 2021 in the country as a result of different meteorological disasters .
According to this document, made public on January 10, 2022, the year “was marked by extremes throughout the United States, including exceptionally hot weather”, and, in addition, by the presence of “devastating weather phenomena”.
The balance of meteorological disasters in the 48 continental states, and in the capital itself, Washington, stands at a total of 688 deaths , more than two and a half times the deaths registered the previous year (in 2020, with 262 deaths). In this sense, there is no doubt that human activity is influencing the appearance of dangerous climate change , which is causing, in turn, much more severe meteorological phenomena throughout the world .
A total of 20 such weather events caused damage that, throughout 2021, cost the country one billion dollars or more, considered the second highest number of such costly events after the year 2020, when a total of of 22 events.
According to the aforementioned agency, among these disasters, three tornadoes and four hurricanes were recorded, in addition to forest fires, floods and waves of both heat and cold.
What’s more, the report’s authors also note that “the devastating death toll and trauma caused by these extreme climate and weather disasters have hit and continue to hit people of color, people with low incomes, and people who have already suffered multiple disasters.
Freezing cold , for example, left millions of American citizens without power in the month of January 2021, when a winter storm swept across much of the United States, reaching as far away as Mexico. In precisely those areas unprepared to withstand these conditions, local businesses were overwhelmed, with more than 20 deaths recorded and residents exasperated and sheltered under blankets or coats.
A few months later, in August 2021, Hurricane Ida ended up hitting the US coast of the Gulf of Mexico, causing power outages and flooding, which ended up leaving much of the region without power. The remnants of the storm turned streets into rivers, flooded basements and killed at least 47 people in the northwestern part of the country.
In addition, we must also add another added problem: 2021 was the fourth warmest year in 127 years of measurements , with an average temperature of 12.5 ºC for the entire continental block of the United States.
In fact, December was considered the warmest month on record , with temperatures 3.7 degrees Celsius above normal. Similarly, the average temperature throughout the past year was about 1.3 degrees Celsius higher than the 20th century average .
