Vivek Shandas, a professor of climate adaptation at Portland State University, takes a temperature reading of almost 106 degrees in downtown Portland, Ore., on Aug. 12, 2021. On Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released measurements showing 2021 was the sixth hottest year on record globally, part of a long-term warming trend. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard, File)
Earth simmered to the sixth hottest year on record in 2021, according to several newly released temperature measurements. And scientists say the exceptionally hot year…