US had hottest March on record as nation faced ‘unprecedented’ heat

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 super strength.Not only was it the hottest March on record for the US but the amount it was above normal beat any other month in history for the lower 48 states. March’s average temperature of 50.85F(10.47C) was 9.35F (5.19C) above the 20th-century normal for March.That easily passed the old record of 8.9F set in March 2012 as the most abnormally hot month on record – regardless of the month of the year – according to records released on Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).The average maximum temperature for March was especially high at 11.4F 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 6.57F above 20th-century normal, was the 10th highest above normal.“What we experienced in March across the United States was unprecedented,” said Shel Winkley, a meteorologist with Climate Central, a non-profit 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.”April 2025 to March 2026 was the warmest 12-month period on record in the continental United States, according to Noaa.On 20 and 21 March, 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 Jeff Masters, a Yale Climate Connections meteorologist.“January through March period was the driest on record for the contiguous US. 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.”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.“A strong El Niño could plausibly push global temperatures to new record levels in late 2026 and into 2027,” Victor Gensini, a Northern Illinois University meteorology professor, said.