The annual average temperature across the United States was 54.4 degrees past year.
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Though 2015 was the 19th straight year that the annual average temperature exceeded the 20th century average, according to NOAA, climate change has received scant attention on the presidential campaign trail among the Republican candidates.
The news comes after several consecutive months in 2015 obliterated global heat records-making many predict 2015 to take the place of “hottest year ever”.
December 2015’s 5.96-degree temperature departure from average tied it for 12th among months with the greatest departures above average, according to weather.com senior digital meteorologist, Nick Wiltgen.
Twenty-eight states, including Alaska, were much warmer than average during 2015 – Florida, Montana, Oregon and Washington were record warm. The NOAA scientists noted that previous year, 10 “extreme weather and climate events” caused more than $1 billion in damages each and resulted in 155 deaths, Politico reports. Only 2012 was warmer in the US with an average temperature of 55.3 degrees.
While the east baked in December, the west was relatively cool-the opposite of the pattern that prevailed during the first half of the year.
“It was quite an exceptional month”, said Jake Crouch, climate scientist at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. It was also the third wettest year on record, with Oklahoma and Texas setting records for precipitation.
“The fact is that we live in a warming world”, Arndt said.
President Obama has made climate change a major focus of his second term, and he’s promised to put the US on the path of cutting emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. The year started with extreme warmth in the West and cold in the East but ended with record warmth in the East and near-average temperatures across the West.
Only five states were drier than average in 2015; among them, CT had its fourth-driest year on record.
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The announcement came after a record-breaking December.
