If you feel like 2021 has been a particularly hot year, you don’t go wrong.
• Read also: Between climate and density, cities increasingly threatened by extreme heat
In Eastern Quebec, for example, 2021 was the second hottest year in history. In Mont-Joli, it was almost 2.1 degrees higher than the annual average, while it was 2.1 degrees higher in Gaspé and 2.3 degrees higher in Sept-Îles.
“The months of October and November have never been so hot for the Sept-Îles region. The record in Sept-Îles for the month of October was 6.6. We had 7.4, so still beaten by 0.8 degrees. It is nevertheless significant. And for the month of November, the record to beat was 0.5. We had 0.9. We will remember 2021 as being a very hot year, ”thinks Jean-Philippe Bégin, meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada.
However, these changes are not without consequences for marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
“We often think of air. It is the air that is warmer, but it also means that the waters are warmer, in the river, in the estuary, in the gulf, the lake, the rivers. And then the ground also much warmer. So that has all kinds of consequences, ”notes Dominique Berteaux of the Canada Research Chair in Northern Biodiversity at the University of Quebec at Rimouski (UQAR).
The latter noted in particular that there was still no ice cream approaching Christmas.
“We see that the birds arrive earlier in the spring, they leave later in the fall because the conditions change, then they have to change their behavior,” he also observes.
A lot of questions
Such observations raise many questions regarding climate change and the health and future of the planet. How far will warming continue? Are we at the beginning or at the end?
“This is only the beginning because every year, we emit a lot of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In Quebec, we issued as much or more than in previous years. So all that accumulates, then it causes the climate to warm up more and more, ”says Mr. Berteaux.
These statistics on global warming are also of concern to the member for Avignon-La Mitis-Matane-Matapédia, who is the climate change critic.
“It’s been flashing red for a long time and people, it’s been a long time before they wake up a bit, and governments in particular. So, it is exactly this signal that it sends, that we do not want to reach the point of no return, which would be dangerous for civilization, for our societies, our communities ”, indignant the Bloc member Kristina. Michaud.
It is clear that there is reason to be concerned.
“We have a planet. We only have one, and then we are changing the conditions in a way that humans have never done before. Science has been telling us for more than 30 years that the atmosphere is changing, it will warm the climate. Then now we watch it. But what science is also telling us is that it’s going to continue. It will grow and it will get worse, ”says Dominique Berteaux.
It remains to be seen whether the efforts made and promised by governments will be sufficient to counter the phenomenon.