December 2021 can now add another dubious top to the atmospheric condition record book . Preliminary data show it was the hot December ever for the Lower 48 .
The last month of 2021 featured some form of nightmare weather for nearly every nook of the country , but the arrant heat record shows December was more than a trilled series of catastrophes . It was downright hot for all but a few sliver of the continental U.S.
The month ended just about 5 degrees Fahrenheit ( 3 grade Anders Celsius ) hotter than normal , according to weather station data from across the country . ( Normal , in this case , is the full stop from 1991 to 2020 . ) That would surpass therecord fix in 2015 . Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration still have to crunch all the datum for it to be prescribed , but it seems likely that 2021 will add up out on top given that preliminary data point indicates it was nearly 1 level Fahrenheit ( 0.6 degrees Celsius ) hotter than the 2015 phonograph record .
A home burns after a fast-moving wildfire swept through the area in the Centennial Heights neighborhood of Louisville, Colorado.Photo: Marc Piscotty (Getty Images)
Some part were dramatically tender than the norm . Like , really dramatic . Texas was an staggering 10 degrees Fahrenheit ( 6 degrees Celsius ) hotter than the twentieth - century average . That type of heat average over such a large area for a week would be shocking , but it ’s really flounder for a calendar month . December 2021 was Texas ’ hot in 130 long time of record book , crushing a record set during the Dust Bowl in 1933 . It ’s also the first time Texas has ever had any calendar month more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average , according to Texas state climatologist John Nielsen - Gammon .
“ Global heating did n’t cause this December to be record - setting , but it did contribute to the margin of victory , ” hesaid in a statement .
legion other weather condition stations in the South and Midwest also reported record book warmth with large parts of the Southeast and Mid - Atlantic hold a December that ranked among the top two or three hottest on record . Only a few pouch of the West saw nerveless than normal temperature . Another agency to infer just how red-hot it was is by looking at everyday record heights versus lows . While the last few day of data point still have n’t been released by NOAA , the preceding 30 days that they do have on file show highs outpacing David Low by a 5 - to-1 proportion . Put simply , it ’s been too damn hot for December .
Extreme heat in all season is one of the clearest signs of climate change , and wintertime is generally thefastest - warming seasonfor the easterly half of the U.S. While the absolute temperatures in December might not be as eye - pop as , say , whathappened in the Pacific Northwestthis past summer , that does n’t make them any less astounding .
The extreme heat also helped drive some of the nightmare weather condition across the U.S. It was a primal ingredient in the deadly tornado outbreak and dust and wind storm that swept through the country in mid - December . The heat also left ordinarily snow - covered expanse nude . That includes eastern Colorado , wherehorrific wildfireslit up in late December and burned throughnearly 1,000 structuresas part of a never - before - seen urban firestorm .
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