WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) – Last month came in like a
lamb and stayed that way, contributing to the warmest March for
the contiguous United States since modern record-keeping began
in 1895, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
said on Monday.
All 48 of the contiguous U.S. states saw at least one
record-warm temperature in March, with a total of 15,292
high-temperature records broken and hundreds of locations
breaking March records, NOAA said in a statement.
Some nighttime low temperatures were as high or higher than
previous daytime highs.
The average temperature of 51.1 degrees F (10.6 degrees C)
was 8.6 degrees (4.8 degrees C) above the 20th century average
for March, and 0.5 degree F (about 0.3 degree C) warmer than the
previous warmest March in 1910.
This year’s balmy March was part of a record-warm winter.
The first three months of 2012 broke high-temperature records
for the contiguous United States, with an average temperature of
42.0 degrees F (5.5 degrees C), which was 6 degrees F (3.3
degrees C) above the long-term average.
The contiguous United States do not include the states of
Alaska and Hawaii.
(Reporting By Deborah Zabarenko; Editing by Marilyn W. Thompson
and Peter Cooney)
