{"id":3369,"date":"2026-04-08T21:57:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/?p=3369"},"modified":"2026-04-13T01:45:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T01:45:47","slug":"march-smashes-record-as-most-abnormally-hot-month-for-continental-us-federal-meteorologists-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/?p=3369","title":{"rendered":"March smashes record as most abnormally hot month for continental US, federal meteorologists say"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 March\u2019s persistent\u00a0<\/span>unseasonable heat<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>was so intense that the continental United States registered its most abnormally hot month in 132 years of records, according to federal\u00a0<\/span>weather<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>data. And the next year or so looks to turn the dial up on global warmth even more, as some forecasts predict a brewing El Nino will reach superstrength.<\/p>\n

Not only was it the hottest March on record for the U.S., but the amount it was above normal beat any other month in history for the Lower 48 states. March\u2019s average temperature of 50.85 degrees Fahrenheit (10.47 degrees Celsius) was 9.35 F (5.19 C) above the 20th century normal for March. That easily passed the old record of 8.9 F (4.9 C) set in March 2012 as the most abnormally hot month on record \u2014 regardless of the month of the year \u2014 according to records released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>\n

The average maximum temperature for March was especially high at 11.4 F (6.3 C) above the 20th century average and was almost a degree warmer than the average daytime high for April, NOAA said.<\/p>\n

Six of the nation\u2019s top 10 most abnormally hot months have been in the last 10 years. This February, which was 6.57 F (3.65 C) above 20th century normal, was the tenth highest above normal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we experienced in March across the United States was unprecedented,\u201d said Climate Central meteorologist Shel Winkley. \u201cOne reason that\u2019s so concerning is just the sheer volume of records, all-time records that were set and broken during that time period. But also this is coming on the heels of what was the\u00a0<\/span>worst snow year<\/a>. And the hottest winter of record. So we\u2019re seeing this continuation of extraordinary heat that took place during the winter months, continuing into the spring months as well. That\u2019s where it\u2019s really concerning, it\u2019s just the duration of this heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 19,800 daily temperature records were broken for heat across the country, according to meteorologist Guy Walton, who analyzes NOAA data.<\/p>\n

By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press<\/a><\/p>\n

Banner image:<\/strong> Juan Olmedo, left, and his wife Alejandra Delgado use an umbrella to shield from the sun while on a walk at Shoreline Park in Mountain View, Calif., March 16, 2026. Photo by Godofredo A. V\u00e1squez via Associated Press<\/em><\/p>\n

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WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 March\u2019s persistent\u00a0unseasonable heat\u00a0was so intense that the continental United States registered its most abnormally hot month in 132 years of records, according to federal\u00a0weather\u00a0data. And the next year or so looks to turn the dial up on global warmth even more, as some forecasts predict a brewing El Nino will reach superstrength. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature-biodiversity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3371,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369\/revisions\/3371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}