'Climate change is kicking our butts.' March smashes heat records for
continental US
[April 09, 2026]
By SETH BORENSTEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — March’s persistent unseasonable heat was so intense
that the continental United States registered its most abnormally hot
month in 132 years of records, according to federal weather 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 Niño will reach
superstrength.
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’s 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 — regardless of the
month of the year — according to records released Wednesday by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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.
Six of the nation’s 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.
“What we experienced in March across the United States was
unprecedented,” said Shel Winkley, a meteorologist with Climate Central,
a nonprofit science research group.
“One reason that’s so concerning is just the sheer volume of records,
all-time records that were set and broken during that time period,”
Winkley said. “But also this is coming on the heels of what was the
worst snow year. And the hottest winter of record.”
Records keep being broken
April 2025 to March 2026 was the warmest 12-month period on record in
the continental United States, according to NOAA.
On March 20 and 21, about one-third of the nation felt unseasonable heat
that would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate
change, Climate Central calculated.
More than 19,800 daily temperature records were broken for heat across
the country, according to meteorologist Guy Walton, who analyzes NOAA
data. More than 2,000 places set monthly records for heat — harder to
break than daily records — Walton calculated. That’s more March heat
records set just last month than in entire decades in the past.
All those broken records “tells us that climate change is kicking our
butts,” said meteorologist Jeff Masters of Yale Climate Connections.
“January through March period was the driest on record for the
contiguous U.S. So not only was it hot, it was record dry as well,”
Masters said. “And that’s a bad combination for water availability, for
agriculture, for river levels, for navigation.”
[to top of second column]
|
A baseball fan tries to shield from the sun during the fourth inning
of a spring training baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and
the Athletics, March 17, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D.
Franklin, File)
Here comes a whopping El Nino
The European climate and weather service Copernicus and NOAA are
both forecasting a “super” strong El Niño to form in a few months
and intensify into the winter. Meteorologists expect that to
increase already warm temperatures across the globe, likely pushing
past the hottest year mark set by 2024.
An El Niño is a natural temporary and cyclical warming of parts of
the central Pacific that alters weather across the planet. An El
Niño is formed when a specific part of the ocean is 0.5 degrees
Celsius (0.9 F) warmer than normal. It is considered moderate at 1
degree Celsius and strong at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Both NOAA and the
Europeans are forecasting this one to be well above 2 degrees
Celsius into an area that is informally called super sized and
perhaps rivaling records set in 2015 and 2016.
An El Niño releases heat stored in the upper ocean into the air,
which causes global temperatures to rise, but with a few months lag
time, said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor
Gensini.
“A strong El Niño could plausibly push global temperatures to new
record levels in late 2026 and into 2027,” Gensini said.
El Nino could alter weather patterns for years
Super-sized El Niños often trigger a “climate regime shift,” which
pushes normal conditions into a different pattern for years or
decades, according to a study last December in the journal Nature
Communications. The study said after the 2015-2016 El Niño, the Gulf
of Mexico jumped to a new sustained level of warmth that may have
contributed to stronger hurricanes along the Gulf Coast in the years
after.
Growing research seems to indicate that a warming world from the
burning of coal, oil and natural gas could be making El Niños
stronger, but climate scientists said that’s not quite a consensus
yet.
“Global warming is supercharging El Niños and the atmospheric
warming they drive,” said University of Michigan environment dean
and climate scientist Jonathan Overpeck. “We saw this in 2016 and
more recently in 2023. We’re likely to see another jump in global
temperatures if a strong El Niño develops later this year as being
predicted.”
El Niños tend to tamp down hurricane activity in the Atlantic, but
ramp it up in the Pacific and could help ease the southwestern
drought, Masters said.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
