Andrea Januta and Lisa Shumaker

(Reuters) – Extreme weather events set new records in 2021. Many died from heatwaves and storms. Many farmers were affected by drought and sometimes even the locust plagues. While setting new carbon emission records, wildfires also swallowed homes, forests and towns.

Climate change was a major factor in many of these disasters. Scientists say there are more to come – and worse – as the Earth’s atmosphere continues to warm through the next decade and beyond.

These are just a handful of events Reuters saw over the past 12 months:

February — A blistering cold spell hit normally warm Texas, killing 125 people in the state and leaving millions without power in freezing temperatures.

Although scientists have yet to reach a consensus on climate change’s cause, the Arctic warming is making it more difficult for weather forecasters around the world.

February — Kenya and other parts of East Africa battled some of the worst locust plagues in decades, with the insects destroying crops and grazing grounds. Climate change has created unique weather conditions that allow insects to flourish, according to scientists.

March — Beijing’s sky turned orange and flights were grounded during the Chinese capital’s worst sandstorm in a decade.

Every year, hundreds of volunteers travel to the desert to plant trees. These trees can stabilise the soil and act as wind buffers. Climate change is predicted to worsen desertification as warmer summers and dryer winters decrease moisture levels.

June — Nearly all of the western United States was gripped by a drought that emerged in early 2020. Officials announced emergency measures and farmers abandoned their crops. The Hoover Dam reservoir reached an all-time low.

The U.S. government had confirmed by September that the Southwest saw the least precipitation for 20 months in more than a century. It also linked drought and climate change.

June — Hundreds died during a record-smashing heatwave in the U.S. and Canadian Pacific (NYSE:) Northwest, which researchers concluded without climate change would be “virtually impossible”.

Power lines became brittle and power lines were able to melt over several days. In an effort to cool down, many cities set up cooling centers in order to help residents. Portland, Oregon experienced a heatwave that saw temperatures so high they reached 116 degrees Fahrenheit (46.7 Celsius).

July — Catastrophic flooding killed more than 300 people in central China’s Henan province when a year’s worth of rain fell in just three days.

Nearly 200 Europeans died in torrential rains that flooded Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Climate change has made floods 20 percent more likely, according to scientists.

July — A record heatwave and drought in the U.S. West gave rise to two massive wildfires that tore through California and Oregon and were among the largest in the history of both states.

Scientists believe that both wildfires’ increasing frequency and intensity are due to climate change-related prolonged droughts and increased heat waves.

July — Large parts of South America are suffering from a prolonged drought. Chile is currently undergoing a decade-long megadrought due to global warming. Brazil however saw its dryst year in 100 years.

The Parana in Argentina was the second-longest South American river. It has fallen to its lowest point since 1944.

Heatwaves around the world are getting more intense and frequent.

August — In the Mediterranean, a hot and dry summer fanned intense blazes that forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes in Algeria, Greece and Turkey.

Two people were killed in Greece’s fires and 65 others in Algeria. The fires occurred amid intense heatwave conditions, where some areas in Greece experienced temperatures exceeding 46 Celsius (115 F).

Late August — Nearly all the world’s mountain glaciers are retreating due to global warming. To protect the remaining ice in Mount Titlis, Swiss resort staff placed blankets around one of the glaciers at the Alps.

Switzerland has already lost 500 of its glaciers and, if the global carbon emissions keep rising, it could also lose 90% of the remaining 1,500 by the end century, according to the government.

August/September — Hurricane Ida, which hit Louisiana as a Category 4 storm, killed nearly 100 people in the United States and caused an estimated $64 billion in damage, according to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Flash flooding was created by the torrential rains that swept in from the Northeast as the remnants Ida moved northward, greatly increasing the storm’s death rate.

Climate change is strengthening hurricanes, while also causing them to linger longer over land – dumping more rain on an area before moving on. These storms may also be more common in the North Atlantic, according to studies.

September — Infrastructure and homes in Russia are increasingly in peril as underground permafrost melts and deforms the land underneath them.

Permafrost once served as a foundation, and in certain regions it remained frozen until the last Ice Age. The layer of ice and soil as well rocks, sand, and organic matter is being threatened by rising global temperatures.

November — The worst floods in 60 years in South Sudan have affected about 780,000 people, or one in every 14 residents, according to the U.N. refugee agency. The county experiences a rainy year every year, and flooding sets records three consecutive years. According to scientists, the severity of flooding will only increase as temperatures rise.

November — A massive storm dumped a month’s worth of rain over two days in the Canadian province of British Columbia, unleashing floods and mudslides that destroyed roads, railroads and bridges. Officials are still trying to determine the exact extent of the damage, but it’s likely that this is the costliest natural catastrophe in Canada’s recent history.

Meteorologists believe that rain was caused by an atmospheric river. An atmospheric river is water vapor flowing hundreds of miles away from the tropical tropics. Atmospheric rivers are expected to become larger — and possibly more destructive — with climate change, scientists say.