The 7 most devastating climate disasters of summer 2021

In hurricanes, wildfires, extreme heat and drought, the climate crisis ravaged the United States this summer.

Beyond the US, China and Germany experienced deadly flooding events in July, as Canada and southern Europe battled pernicious wildfires of their own. Meanwhile, precipitation at the summit of Greenland fell as rain and not snow for the first time on record.

"It was impossible to ignore climate change this summer," Rachel Licker, a senior climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, told CNN. "And unfortunately, this isn't a one-time thing ... this is what we can expect more of, especially if we don't get off fossil fuels and invest in measures to build our resilience as soon as possible."