Spring In U.S. Hottest On Record Continuing Warming Trend To Have Dramatic Consequences, Including More Droughts And Floods

The United States panted through the hottest spring on record this year. The National Climatic Data Center announced the breaking of a 90-year-old national record Friday, roughly three months after it reported that the winter of 1999-2000 set its own record for warmth.

Across the country, the mean temperature for the three months was 55.5 Fahrenheit, or 0.4 degrees hotter than the previous record set in 1910.

“What’s so amazing is that there was not a single state that was below normal and we had 22 states that had their top 10 warmest years,” said Jay Lawrimore, a climatologist at the data center.

Lawrimore hesitated to play the information into the debate whether man’s activities are inordinately warming the planet, but he said the continued warming trend presages ever more dramatic consequences. Already seemingly contradictory phenomena such as droughts and floods have delivered a one-two punch to parts of the Midwest.

“You have the natural oscillation in the climate and there’s a probability that global warming is magnifying the natural oscillation,” he said.

The warmth or chill of a season is determined in large part by the strength of air blown into the country from the Arctic. Dan Cayan, a climatologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said the Arctic blasts happened to be weak this year and he cautioned against reading too much into the record-setting spring.

This sidebar appeared with the story: SPRING TEMPERATURES Northwest

This year: 47.4 Average: 45.3.

(Includes Washington, Oregon and Idaho)