This Year's Winter Is Officially The Warmest Ever Recorded In US History
The premature arrival of summer temperatures should make it no surprise this winter was the country's warmest on record.
According to CBS News, from December through February, the average temperature for the Lower 48 states, or every state besides Alaska and Hawaii, was 36.8 degrees Fahrenheit, a record-shattering 4.6 degrees above average.
This breaks the previous record set in 1999 to 2000, and it marks the warmest winter since record keeping began in 1895.
All six New England states had their warmest winters to date, a shock after 2014 saw the region experience a historically cold winter, The Washington Post reports.
Winter temperatures frequently reached the 50s in New England, where cities such as Burlington, Vermont and Concord, New Hampshire received half of their usual amounts of snow.
Alaska's average winter temperature was nearly 11 degrees above average, making it the second warmest winter in the state's history.
The Alaskan city of Anchorage reportedly had no snow on the ground in February for the very first time.
From December to February, average temperatures in every state among the Lower 48 were reportedly at least 1.7 degrees higher than usual.
Global temperatures recorded via satellite also apparently showed it was the Earth's warmest February in history.
December was freakishly warm, with temperatures reaching the 60s all across the East Coast on Christmas Day.
Last fall was also the warmest fall on record, but winter is reportedly the season showing the fastest warming trend in the US.
The two factors meteorologists believe to be most responsible for the record-breaking winter are El Niño, or the natural warming of the Pacific Ocean, and man-made climate change.
US temperatures were at least partially affected by the heat rising out of the Pacific.
This year seems to be on track to becoming the hottest year in Earth's recorded history, breaking the previous record set in -- you guessed it -- 2015.
Citations: The 2015 2016 season was the warmest on record (The Washington Post), US breaks record for warmest winter (CBS News)
