Last Month Was The Fourth-Hottest March On Record
BY RYAN KORONOWSKI ON APRIL 23, 2014 AT 4:16 PM
The Midwest’s corn crop may be delayed because the ground is still too wet or too cold to plant, and much of the United States is still not quite sure if spring has arrived.
But looking at the entire globe — as scientists do when they track things like global warming — 2014′s month of March was the fourth-hottest one on record. Only 2002, 2010, and 1990 were warmer. Data from 135 years of records show that the average global temperature in March 2014 was 1.3°F warmer than the 20th century average of 54.9°F. This was the 38th March that was hotter than average.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate scientist Jessica Blunden said that “the change was primarily due to warmer-than-average temperatures over central Asia in March, compared with cooler-than-average temperatures in February.”
NOAA’s data analysis matches that of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which also found March to be the warmer than all but three other Marches on record.
The land surface temperature anomaly from December through February in North America. The record warmth in the west vied with the extreme cold in the east.
The land surface temperature anomaly from December through February in North America. The record warmth in the west vied with the extreme cold in the east.
CREDIT: NASA
Yes, the U.S. experienced its 34th-coldest winter in 119 years of data.
But the U.S. National Climatic Data Center reported last month that the winter of 2013-2014 ended up being the 8th-warmest, globally, on record.