Top-10 warmest January for contiguous U.S., Great Lakes ice cover well below average
Unseasonable cold in the Rockies, Northern Plains, and Great Lakes were balanced by much warmer than average conditions in the Southwest and Southeast coastal states.
The soaking brought to the Gulf region by tropical cyclones in September 2020 contrasted starkly with the hot, dry conditions in the West.
The 2017 average temperature was the third highest since 1880, behind 2016 (warmest) and 2015 (second warmest).
The May temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.49°F above the twentieth-century average of 58.6°F. Since 1880, May temperatures have been rising by 0.13°F (0.07°C) per decade.
The average global temperature (land and ocean) for May 2012 was the second warmest May temperature since recordkeeping began in 1880, and the temperature over land surfaces was the warmest on record for May. May 2012 also marks the 327th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th-century average.
A record-warm February capped the Northern Hemisphere's warmest winter on record.
It was the warmest winter on record for the contiguous U.S.
Earth had another record-warm month. It was also the second-wettest January on record.
An arctic air mass brought bitter cold and snow to much of the nation in mid-January; powerful storms brought heavy rainfall and flooding to parts of the Southern Plains.