Warmest US winter on record
Washington, United States - This winter was the warmest ever recorded in the mainland United States, data showed Friday -- the latest sign the world is moving towards an unprecedented era as a result of the climate crisis.
The average temperature in the so-called lower 48 US states from December 2023 to February 2024 was 37.6 degrees Fahrenheit (3.1 Celsius), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, the highest in a record that goes back to the 1890s.
It was 5.4F (3.0C) above the 20thcentury average for the world’s second biggest greenhouse gas emitter behind China. The second-warmest winter came in 2016, which averaged 36.8F, while the coldest on record came in 1979, a frigid 26.6F.
Eight states across the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast saw their warmest winters on record, boosted in part by the El Nino weather pattern.
On Thursday, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota announced the state had unlocked federal funding for businesses impacted by reduced snow, “from skiing and snowshoeing to winter festivals.”
The heat continued through February. Data showed average temperature for the contiguous United States, which excludes Hawaii, Alaska and offshore territories, was 41.1F for the month -- 7.2F above average and the third-warmest on record.
Wildfires, drought and floods
The Smokehouse Creek wildfire, which began on February 26 and became the largest blaze in Texas’ history, burned more than a million acres (400,000 hectares) in the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma, the agency added.
Persistent warmth led to a steady decrease in ice coverage across the Great Lakes, reaching a historic low of 2.7 percent coverage on February 11, when ice coverage normally peaks.
“We’ve crossed a threshold in which we are at a historic low for ice cover for the Great Lakes as a whole,” Bryan Mroczka, a scientist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) said in a recent statement.
Absence of ice impacts everything from businesses that rely on outdoor sports to fish that use ice to protect themselves from predators during spawning season.
It also makes the shoreline more susceptible to erosion, increasing potential damage to coastal infrastructure.
February also ranked as the third-driest month in the historical record but, while some regions experienced drought, unusual atmospheric patterns brought heavy rain and snow to parts of the West, causing powerful winds, flooding, landslides and power outages in parts of California.
1.5C limit breached
President Joe Biden referred to global warming as a “climate crisis” in his State of the Union speech on Thursday night, moving away from the phrase “climate change,” and hailed his signature climate infrastructure law.
Last month was the warmest February on record globally, the ninth straight month of historic high temperatures across the planet, Europe’s climate monitor said earlier this week.